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PUBLISHED BY THE STATE. 



SEND LIST OF NAMES TO 



GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, 

By whom it will be mailed, free of charge, to each name sent himi 
FIFTH EDITION. 



I^E.A.3D -A^HSriD CIPl<bTJIj-A.TE. 



1869. 



NOTICE. 



This Pamphlet, published in January of each j'ear, (this being its third 
year) is designed to keep up with the progress of the State, and present 
its status to date. 

It is offered for gratuitous circulation, and deposited with Girart 
Hewitt, St. Paul, who will mail it to each name sent him, and answer 
letters of inquiry as to this State. But persons had better come and see 
for themselves the ivheat fields of Minnesota ! 

^^ Before .writing me, please see if this Pamphlet don't answer 
your inquiries. 

^= See list of Newspapers on last page, and then Rail Road, Boat 
and Stage Lines, that tell you how to get all over the State. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In the j-ear 1869, by GIRART HEWITT 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 

for the District of Minnesota. 



HEWITT'S 



alliilat'i)@flt® 



(Established ix 1856.;) 

Sells Farms, Farm( Lands, Dwellings, and Business 

Property, Makes iWestments, Loans and Collects 
I 

Money, Examir es Titles, Pays Taxes, &c., &c. 
(Correspondent for Capitalists.) 

GIRART HEWITT, 

Attorney at IL.a>v. 



MINNESOTA: 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 



1869. 



BEING A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF 

ITS HISTORY AND PROGRESS, CLIMATE, SOIL, AGRICULTURAL 

AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, COMMERCIAL 

CAPACITIES, AND SOCIAL STATUS ; 

ITS LAKES, RIVERS AND RAILROADS; 
HOMESTEAD AND EXEIVIPTION LAWS ; 

EMBRACING A CONCISE TREATISE ON ITS 

CLIMATOLOGY, IN A HYGIENIC AND SANITARY POINT 
OF VIEW ; 

ITS UNPARALLELED SALUBRITY, GROWTH AND 
PRODUCTIVENESS, 

AS COMPARED WITH THE OLDER STATES ; 
AND THE 

ELEMENTS OF ITS FUTURE GREATNESS AND PROSPERITY. 




irOR ORA.XXJITOXJS CIRCXJL ATI OW, 

ORDER COPIES TO ANY ADDRESS, FROM 

^GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. 
' 1869. 






STATEMENT. 



The pamphlet issued by me January, 1867, was received iu such a way as to 
call for a similar work for 1868. The flattering endorsements which the nine 
editions of those years received from the Press, the Legislature, the State 
Board of Immigration, and the public, seem to warrant an issue for 1869. If 
the pamphet of 1868 was an improvement upon that of 1867, I trust this will 
be found a still greater improvement upon its predecessors. The plan for its 
circulation has proved a success — a copy is sent to each name furnished me 
whether the person thinks of seeking a new home or not. If the pamphlet falls 
into the wrong hand at first, it finds its way to the right one at last. A resi- 
dence here of twelve years and an immense correspondence, embracing every 
State and Territory in our own and many foreign countries, satisfies me that the 
facts regarding Minnesota are not known in the world. 

"While many of the general items of the last editions are preserved in this, it 
will be found enlarged and improved in [many respects, and brings us down to 
January, 1869. 

I have tried to avoid exaggeration, aiming to faithfully and impartially repre- 
sent the whole State. It is not designed to persuade persons to come here who 
are doing weH enough where they are, but to give those seeking new homes re- 
liable information as to this young, attractive and progTCssive State. 

Upon the important question of health, I have given the able treatise of Dr. 
T. Williams, and added the opinion of Dr. D. W. Hand, of St Paul. 

Comino- here over twelve years ago, an invalid, myself a beneficiary of this 
climate, I have studied this question with interest, and can say that each year has 
served to confirm me in the opinion that Minnesota is unsurpassed for health. 

GIRART HEWITT. 

i. 

St* Paulj January, 1869. 



mi:n'nesota.: 

ITS ADYANTAGES TO SETTLERS 



GEOGRAPHICAL. 

The State of Minuesota is one of the youngest in the united sisterhood of 
States. It was admitted into the Union in iMay, 1858, being the thirty-second 
State admitted into the Union. It derives its name from two Indian words, 
" Minne " and " Sotah" " sky-tinted water," in reference to its numerous and 
beautiful streams and lakes which from their crystal pm-ity reflect the clear, steel- 
blue skies. The State lies between 43° 30' and 49° north latitude, and 9P 
and 97° 5' west longitude. It is bounded on the north by the British Posses- 
' sions ; on the south by the State of Iowa ; east by Wisconsin and Lake Supe- 
rior ; and west by Dakota Territory. Its estimated area is 84,000 square miles, 
or about 54,000,000 acres, thus making it one of the largest States in the Union, 
being nearly equal to the combined areas of the large and populous States of 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and embracing a larger extent of territory than the 
whole of New England, capable of eventually sustaining a population equal to 
that of England. 

Mvantas;eous Geographical Position. — The geographical position of Min- 
nesota is the most favored on the continent. Its location is central between 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Hudson's Bay on the north, and the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south. It is also midway between the ai-able limits of the con- 
tinent, where the products of agriculture attain their most perfect development. 
Generally speaking, the valleys of the Mississippi, St Lawrence and Red River 
may be said to rise in the form of a huge convex mass, which culminates in the 
sand dunes or drift hills in the northern part of Minnesota, where those three 
great rivers take their rise and flow north, south and northeast. Minnesota is thus 
the actual summit cf the continent, and the pinnacle of the watershed of North 
America. In reference to this fact, the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, in a speech 
delivered at St. Paul in 1860, says, " Here spring up almost side by side, so 
that they may kiss each other, the two great rivers of the continent," the 
Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, rising' almost within a stone's throw of each 
other, and running in opposite directions,— the one half way to Europe, the 
other bearing our commerce to the Gulf of Mexico, gathering the products of 
the cotton plantations of the South and bringing them to the vast water powers 
of the Upper Mississippi. 

The arable area of the vast territory northwest of us — bounded on the north 
by the line of arctic temperature, and south by the arid sandy plains — is pro- 
jected through the valley of the Saskatchewan to the Pacific border ; " grimly 
guarded by the Itasca summit of the Mississippi, 1680 feet high on the east, 
and the Missouri coteau, 2000 feet high on the west," it forms " the only avenue of 
coMmiercial communication between the east and west coasts, the only possible 
route of a Pacific railway, and the only theater now remaining for the formation 
of new settlements." Lying exactly across the commercial isthmus thus hemmed 
in, and which is the only outlet of this vast region to the Ea.'^tern and Southern 
States, Minnesota is the gateway between the eastern and western sides of the 
continent. " Through this one pass," says Mr. Wheelock, " between the COU' 



4 MINNESOTA: 

tinental deserts of sand and ice, must flow the great exodus now dashing itself in 
vain against their shores, as the tribes of Asia flowed into Europe through the 
passes of the Caucasus. Every advancing wave of population lifts higher and 
higher this gathering flood of American life, which, the moment that it begins 
to press upon the means of subsistence, must pour all its vast tide through 
this narrow channel into the inland basins of the Northwest — till the Atlantic 
and Pacific are united in a living chain of populous States." 

This commanding physical position of Minnesota gives it the key and control 
of the outlet of the great mass of the commerce of the immense and produc- 
tive regions of the western and northwestern portions of the continent — regions as 
yet almost a wilderness, but whose incalculably large exports and imports, fol- 
lowing the inexorable laws of commerce, must find their highway through our 
State, when at no distant day those large and fertile districts north and west 
of us swarm with the industry of empires, and pour their wealth into our 
cofi"ers, giving us a significance second to none in the world. Not only that, 
but, instead of passing by us and going two thousand miles east to trade, the 
workshops and factories which even now are opening up so rapidly on our wa- 
ter-powers will supply them and enrich us ; thus making this vast region tributary 
to us as surely as the West ever has heretofore been tributary to the East. Notic- 
ingthis fact, in the speech already alluded to, Mr. Seward says, " Here is the place, 
the central place, where the agriculture of the richest region of North America 
must pour out its tributes to the whole world. On the east, all along the shore 
of Lake Superior, and west, stretching in one broad plain, in a belt quite across 
the continent, is a country where State after State is yet to arise, and where the 
productions for the support of human society in the old, crowded States must 
be brought forth." Then follows the remarkable and far-seeing views of this 
great statesman and politician, that Minnesota is yet to exercise a powerful 
influence in the political destinies of this continent. " Power is not to reside 
permanently on the eastern slope of the Alleghany mountains, nor in the seaports. 
Seaports have always been overrun and controlled by the people of the interior, 
and the power that shall communicate and express the will of men on this conti- 
nent is to be located in the Mississippi Valley, and at the sources of the Missis- 
sippi and St. Lawrence." Mr. Seward only expressps the fact, taught by the 
whole past history of the whole world, that empire travels westward, when he 
asserts, " I now believe that the ultimate, last seat of government on this great 
continent will be found somewhere within a circle or radius not very far from the 
spot on which I stand, at the head of navigation on the Mississippi River." 

The future destiny of Minnesota therefore is to be a glorious one, and fortu- 
nate the descendants of those who may now ob !;ain an interest and foothold 
within her borders. We will proceed to speak more specially of the true ele- 
ments of this future greatness and prosperity, as already indicated by the 
unerring logic of facts and unparalleled growth. 

HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Minnesota is what was once the " land of the Dakotas," who inhabited it long 
before their existence was known to white men. Their chief couucil chamber 
was in Carver's Cave, near where the present capital of the State now stands. 

The honor of discovering Minnesota is divided between Louis Hennepin, a 
Franciscan priest, and DuLuth, a French explorer. Hennepin was sent out in 
the spring of 1680 to explore the Upper Mississippi in company with two 
traders ; he was captured by the Indians and carried to the present site of St. 
Paul. On his return in June, he met DuLuth and a party of explorers. He 
claims to have discovered the Falls of the Mississippi, and bestowed upon them 
the name of St. Anthony, in honor of his patron saint. 

In 1689, Perrot, accompanied by LeSueur and others, took formal possession 
of the country embracing Minnesota, in the name of France, and established a 
fort on the west shore of Lake Pepin. Although discovered upwards of two 
hundred years ago, the settlement of Minnesota did not commence until about 
twenty years ago, with the exception of a few scattering pioneer hunters, traders 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 5 

and missionaries, who took up their abode in it at a mnch Parlier date. During 
the lapse of two centuries ihe vast northwest, embracing the best lands and 
climate on the continent, remained a wilderness, while the Atlantic and Western 
States were being settled. Very vague and erroneous notions prevailed in 
regard to this region, which was popularly supposed to be too cold and inhos- 
pitable for agricultural pursuits. But this region reproduces the west and north 
of Europe, containing the most powerful and enlightened nations on the globe, 
with the exceptions caused by vertical configuration only, and gives an immense 
and yet unmeasured capacity for occupation and expansion, containing an area 
above the 43d parallel, perfectly adapted to the fullest occupation by cultivated 
nations, not inferior to the whole of the United States east of the Mississippi. 

This region, extending to the Pacific, and of which Minnesota is the " garden 
spot," is yet destined to supersede in wealth and agricultural and manufacturing 
importance the older part of the United States, lying on the Atlantic coast and 
east of the Mississippi, and to become the seat of empire on the Americim 
continent. 

" The parallel in regard to the advancement of American States here may be 
drawn with the period of the earliest trans-Alpine Roman expansion, when Gaul, 
Scandinavia, and Britain were regarded as inhospitable regions, fit only for 
barbarian occupation. The enlightened nations then occupied the latitudes near 
the Mediterranean, and the richer northern and western countries were unopened 
and unknown."* 

In the year 1695, the second post in Minnesota was established by LeSueur ; 
and in October, 1700, he explored the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers and 
established another post on the latter. From this period up to 1746, the history 
of Minnesota is nothing more than the history of the adventures of LeSueur 
and the traders among the Indians, and the wars of the latter among themselves, 
and is full of wild and romantic incidents. At this time France and England 
were involved in a war which extended to theii* colonies in the Xew World, and 
the French enlisted many savages of the Upper Mississippi on their side. 

On the 8th of Septenibfir, 1760, the French delivered up their posts in Canada 
to the English. By a treaty made at Versailles in 1763, France ceded the 
territory comprised within the limits of Minnesota and Wisconsin to England. 
But for a long time the English got no foothold in their newly acquired territory, 
owing to the greater popularity of the French, many of whom had married 
Indian wives. But little was known of the country previous to 1766, when 
Jonathan Carver of Connecticut explored it, and afterwards went to Englan^ and 
wrote a book of his adventures. Even at this early day, though over a thousand 
miles intervened between the Falls of St Anthony and any white settlement, the 
explorer was impressed with the beauty and fertility of the country, and spoke 
of the commercial facilities its future inhabitants would enjoy via the Mississippi 
and the northern chain of lakes. Carver's Cave at St. Paul, in which several 
bands of Indians held an annual grand council— making it the capital of the 
State a hundred years ago — was named after him. 

After the peace between the United States and England in 1783, England 
ceded her claim to the territory south of the British Possessions to the 
United States. December 20, 1803, the province of Louisiana, embracing that 
portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, was ceded to the United States by 
France, who on the first of the same month had received it from Spain ; the 
latter objected to the transfer, but withdrew her opposition in 1804. In 1805, 
Gen. Zebulon M, Pike explored this region of country, and his reports, and 
those of Long, Fremont, Pope, Marcy, Stansberry, and other military officers 
exerted a large influence in first attracting attention to Minnesota as a field for 
settlement. He obtained a grant of land from the Sioux Indians on which Fort 
Snelling, five miles above St. Paul, was built in 1820. 

The English traders still lingered in Minnesota after its cession to the United 
States, and incited by them against the Americans, the Indians became trouble- 

* " Blodget'8 Climatology of the United States," page 529. 



b MINNESOTA : 

some, and during the war of 1812 generally took sides with the English, After 
the peace of 1815 they acknowledged the authority of the United States, but 
the Ojibways and Dakotas (or Siouxs) being hereditary enemies continued to 
war among themselves. In 1812 a small settlement was formed in the Red 
River country, composed principally of Scotchmen, under the auspices of Lord 
Selkirk. They were greatly persecuted by the Hudson Bay Company, who 
claimed the sole right of hunting and trading for furs in the northwest. In 1821, 
" after years of bloodshed, heart-burnings, fruitless litigation, and vast expense, 
the strife was concluded by a compromise between the two companies." In 
1822, the first mill in Minnesota was erected where Minneapolis now stands. 
In 1823, the first steamboat that ever ascended the Mississippi above 
Rock Island, arrived at Fort Snelling, to the great astonishment of the 
natives. 

In 1820, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a State, leaving the territory 
north of it, including Iowa and all of Minnesota west of the river, without any 
organized government. In 1834, it was attached to Michigan for judicial pur- 
poses. In 1836, Nicollet an-ived in Minnesota and spent some time in exploring 
the sources of the Mississippi. 

In 1837, the pine forests of the valley of the St Croix audits tributaries were 
ceded to the United States by the Ojibways ; and the same year the Dakotas 
ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi. These treaties were ratified June 
15, 1838. 

One of the earliest settlers in St. Paul, the present capital of the State, waa 
named Phalon. Other families from the Red River settlement settling there. 
Father Gaultier, a Catholic missionary, built a log chapel, "blessed the new 
basilica," and dedicated it to St. Paul, which thus came to be the namo of the 
city, which previous to that time had been called " Pig's Eye." In 1848 St. 
Paul was a small settlement, and contained only 840 inhabitants in 1849. Its 
present population is 20,108. 

In 1843, the settlement of Stillwater, on the St. Croix, 18 miles from St. Paul, 
was commenced. 

Territorial Organizatimi. — On the 3d of March, 1849, the Territory of 
Minnesota was organized, its boundaries including the present Territory of 
Dakota, and St. Paul designated as the capital. April 28th the first newspaper 
was issued in the new capital. Alexander Ramsey was appointed Governor, 
and arrived with his family the latter part of May. On the first of June he 
proclaimed the Territorial government organized. The Territory contained 
4,680 inhabitants at this time. 

After the crgauization of the Ten-itory, immigration flowed in rapidly, and 
both St. Paul am! country were settled very fast. On the 1st of August, 1849, 
the first delegate (H. H. Sibley) was elected to Congress, and on the 3d of 
September the first Legislative Assembly met and created nine counties. In 
1850 small steamboats commenced to run on the Minnesota river. 

In 1851 an important treaty was effected with the Dakotas, by which their 
title to the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota river 
was extinguished, and this vast tract open to settlement. At a very early day 
Minnesota took the subject of common schools in hand, and the first report of 
a Superintendent of Public Instruction was i:)resented to the third Legislative 
Assembly, which met in January, 1852. 

From this time forward immigration flowed into Minnesota at high tide, and 
the State filled up with unprecedented rapidity. Villages and towns sprang up 
as if by magic. Land speculation ran high, and during the period of the gi-eatest 
inflation of prices, the financial crash of 18i7 fell like a thunderbolt. Great 
distress and stagnation of business was the direct result, and for a year or two 
the rapid growth of the State was arrested. But the remoter consequences of 
the crash were permanently beneficial to the State. Towns had sprung up like 
mushrooms without suflicieut tributary agricultural districts to support them. 
Rent and living were ruinously high. After the crash, the speculator's occupa- 
tion was gone ;^the energies of the inhabitants were directed to manufactures 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. • 

and agriculture — the basis of all true State or National prosperity. Previous 
to that era, breadstuffs had beeu imported; in 1854 the number of plowed acres 
in the State was only 15,000 ; in 1860, there were 433,276 ; and in 1866, 
1,000,000 ; and in 1867, over 1,200,000 ; 1868, 1,400,000. Minnesota was 
suddenly developed as one of the finest ^rain growing States in the Union, 
and in 1865 exported upwards of 8,000,000 bushels of wheat ; in 1866 over 
10,000,000 bushels ; and in 1867 the aggregate yield was as much ; and in 1868 
over 17,000,000. 

Admitted into the Union. — The State Constitution was framed by a conventiou 
elected for that purpose, which assembled at St. Paul in July, 1857, and it was 
voted upon and adopted the ensuing October. The State was admitted into 
the Union in May, 1858, the State government organized, and Hon. H. K. 
Rice and Gen. Jas. Shields elected to the U. S. Senate. In 1861, when the re- 
bellion broke out, our State promptly responded to all the calls made on her for 
men and money, though at a greater detriment to her growth and prosperity, 
perhaps, than that of any other State. Being a new State, she had no surplus 
population, and her quotas were taken from her grain fields, workshops and pine- 
ries.. With a population of about 175,000 at the beginning of the war, she fur- 
nished about '24,000 men to the Union armies. Few States have such a record. 

The Indian Massacre. — In August, 1862, one of the most fiendish and wide- 
spread massacres recorded in American history took place upon the western 
frontier of Minnesota by the Dakota or Sioux Indians. A large military force, 
commanded by Gen. Sibley, was at once sent out, which soon laid waste the 
whole Indian country belonging to these tribes, killed " Little Crow," their leader, 
and utterly ranted and subdued their braves. A large number were captured ; 
some of them tried and sentenced to death — of these 38 were hung, and the 
others, with their entire tribes, were, under the order of the General Government, 
sent clean out of the country to a reservation beyond the Missouri river. 

Remarkable Progress of the State. — It will thus be seen that Minnesota has 
had extraordinary obstacles to overcome. The financial panic of 1857, the 
rebellion of 1861, and Indian war of 1862, have undoubtedly greatly retarded 
her growth ; yet, notwithstanding those drawbacks, she has grown more rapidly 
than any State in the Union. Her percentage of increase from 1860 to 1865 
was 45j per cent, while tliat of Wisconsin was only 12, Illinois 27, Iowa 11, 
Michigan 7i. All danger from Indians has long since vanished ; perfect securi- 
ty reigns, and homes in the most remote parts of the State are as secure as those 
of New-England. In 1865 the populatiou of the State was 250,000, and at the 
close of 1868, 460,000. Gov. M arshall in his annual message gives it at 445,030. 
Government. — The State government is very similar to that of the other Western 
States. The constitution secures civil and religious rights to all ; a citizen of 
the United States 21 years of age who has been in the State four months can 
vote — if of foreign birth he must have resided in the United States one year, 
and in Minnesota four months, and have declared his intention to become a citi- 
zen of the United States. Impartial suffrage is now the law of this State. 

EXEMPTION LAWS OP MINNESOTA. 

Humane and Just Provisions. — Too much credit cannot be accorded the men 
of our Legislature for the wise and liberal provisions of our. State Homestead 
and Exemption Law. When we recall for a moment the statutes of the older 
States in that barbarous age when an Exemption Law " of one hundred dollars " 
and " imprisonment for debt " disgraced their law-books, and contemplate the 
succession of revulsions that we have seen sweeping over the land, prostrating 
the bnsiness and business men, the energetic, progressive, live men of our country 
almost in a night, themselves, and those dependent on Ihem, involved in one com- 
mon ruin, say whether I too much honor those men whose legislation comes 
up to the spirit of the age in which we live, who have placed upon the statutes 
of Minnesota a Homestead and Exemption Law more liberal than that of op 
other State. 



8 MINNESOTA : 

I quote from the statutes of 1866, page 498 : 

" ITiat a homestead consisting of any quantity of land not exceeding eighty 
acres and the dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, to be selected by 
the owner thereof, and not included in any incorporated town, city or village, or 
instead thereof, at the option of the owner, a quantity of land not exceeding in 
amount one lot, being within an incorporated town, city or village, and the 
dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident 
of this State, shall not be subject to attachment, levy or sale, upon any execu- 
tion or any other process issuing out of any court within this State." 

Thus it will be seen that we have no limitation as to the value of the farm or 
residence thus secured to the family. It may be worth one thousand or ten 
thousand dollars. Whatever it is, it remains the shelter, the castle, the home of 
the family, to cluster around its hearthstone in the hour of gloom and disaster, as 
securely as they were wont to do in the sunshine of prosperity. 

While there may be those who prefer an exemption by value rather than area, 
and urge that one so liberal as ours can be taken advantage of by knaves, it 
must be remembered that no general law can be framed for the protection of the 
helpless and unfortunate, that will not be sometimes taken advantage of by 
others. We think it may be safely asserted that an exemption law such as ours, 
is found a blessing to thousands of worthy men, women and children for every 
one unworthily shielded by its provisions. 

Personal Property Exempted. — In addition to the home, there is also ex- 
empted a proportionately liberal amount of personal property, consisting of 
household furniture, library, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, wagons, farming utensils, 
provisions, fuel, grain, &c., &c., and all the tools and instruments of%ny mechan- 
ic, and four hundred dollars' worth of stock in trade ; also the library and im- 
plements of any professional man. See State laws, page 489. 

UNITED STATES HOMESTEAD LAW. 

Large numbers are availing themselves of the liberal Homestead Law passed 
by Congress, and now in force. Minnesota possesses the only domain attractive 
to this class of settlers — having nearly forty million acres of public land yet 
open to entry and settlement. This law provides that each settler, in five years' 
occupation, becomes the owner of " 160 acres by paying the sum of ten dollars 
and the fees of the laud officer, provided he be a citizen of the United States or 
has declared his intention to become such;" and it further provides that " »o 
land acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable 
to the satisfaction of any debts contracted prior to the issuance of the patent 
therefbr," In view of the immense quantity of "broad acres " thus offered with- 
out cost, situated as they are all over this new State, in districts well watered 
and timbered, where the mails and express are now extended, and railroads and 
telegraphs rapidly pushing their way, it is not surprising that thousands are 
coming into Minnesota annually to secure good farms for themselves and their 
families — farms that will, in a few short years, be in the midst of cultivated 
neighborhoods, with churches and school-houses arising at every hand, amid all 
the surroundings of civilization and progress. 

LAXD OEEICES. 

The land offices for the several land districts of Minnesota are located at the 
following places : — St. Peter, Nicollet County ; (Jreenleaf, Meeker County ; 
Winnebago City, Fariba'ult County ; St. Cloud, Stearns County ; Taylor's Falls, 
Chisago County ; Duluth, St. Louis County ; Alexandria, Douglass County. 
Persons desiring information as to Government Lands can address the •' Regis- 
ter and Receiver " at the above Laud Offices. 

DEMAJO) FOR LABOR EST THE WEST. 

It is said a young man recently wrote Mr. Greeley of the "Tribune," to obtain a situa- 
tion, and he replied that " New York ia just entering upon the interesting process of Starving 
out 200,000 people whom war and its consequences has driven liither. It is impossible to 
employ more until these are gone," 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 9 

The journals of Eastern cities are annually filled with complaints that there is 
a surplus of laborers and operatives in the East seeking work ; that the com- 
petition for employment is often such that workmen are willino; to accept wages 
far below what is just to them and their families ; that the oEQces of European 
Consuls are beset with foreigners who have exhausted their means seeking em- 
ployment in the crowded Eastern cities. This does not and will not in a hundred 
years apply to the great West. Labor of all kinds, especially farm labor, must 
of necessity continue in demand here. Indeed one can scarcely imagine a con- 
dition of things in the West that will make it otherwise. Laborers and working 
men in almost every branch of industry are generally in scant supply and great 
demand throughout the West. Those lingering around the crowded seaports of 
the East with no hope beyond a mere subsistence, their families growing up ia 
poverty and vice, having no chance with others in the world, should turn their 
attention to the great West, where a free homestead, rich lauds, education for 
their children, and a healthy climate invites them. Our pineries alone, give em- 
ployment to over 3,000 men, to say nothing of other branches of the lumber 
interest, and our numerous railroads now under construction. 

WESTERN PEOPLE. 

The citizens of a young State, with " room and verge enough," are naturally 
anxious to grow in numbers. All are interested in this ; hence a welcome hand 
is extended to all who come, and laws are passed, as I have elsewhere said, se- 
curing them liberal terms of citizenship. Indeed, the word liberal applies to 
Minnesota and her people with more propriety than any I have ever known. 
I say this because it is true, and not in disparagement of others. It is owing, 
in some measure, to the fact that the men who take up their march with the star of 
empire on its westward way, are either the bold, live men of the older States, or 
their hearts and minds expand as they traverse the broad prairies of the fresh 
and glorious West. To another cause, can we, to some extent, ascribe much 
that is liberal and agreeable in the West, and different from the older States. 
Here we have every nation and people represented ; they come from the North 
and the South, the East and the VVest. People of the old world meet here, 
mingle and marry with the people of the new. The result is an improvement ; 
a stock is raised mentally and physically more vigorous than ia older localities, 
where they have married and intermarried until " every one is cousin ; " deteri- 
oration the consequence, narrow and intolerant sentiments the rule. The differ- 
ence in these respects is observed by all who have lived long in the West, and 
then returned to the old localities whence they came. Hence it is that few who 
have ever lived in the West, are content to again reside in the East 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 0¥ THE STATE. 

Physical Districts. — The physical characteristics of a country exert an im- 
portant influence on its inhabitants. "Grand scenery, leaping waters, and a 
bracing atmosphere," — says Xeill in his History of Minnesota, — " produce men 
of different cast from those who dwell where the land is on a dead level, and 
where the streams are all sluggards. We associate heroes like Tell and Bruce 
with the mountains of Switzerland and the highlands of Scotland." Although 
Minnesota is not a mountainous country by any means, its general elevation gives 
it all the advantages of one, without its objectionable features. Being equi- 
distant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, situated on an elevated plateau, 
and with a system of lakes and rivers ample for an empire, it has a peculiar 
climate of its own, possessed by no other State. 

The general surface of the greater part of the State is even and undulating, 
and pleasantly diversified with rolling prairies, vast belts of timber, oak openings, 
numerous lakes and streams, with their accompanying meadows, waterfalls, wood- 
ed ravines and lofty bluffs, which impart variety, grandeur and picturesque beauty 
to ite scenery. 

The State may be divided into three principal districts. In the northern and 
western part of the State an exception to its general evenness of surface occurs 



10 MINNESOTA : 

in an elevated district which may be termed the highlands of Minnesota. This 
district, resting on primary rocks, is of comparatively small extent — 1(),000 
square miles — and covered with a dense growth of pine, fir, spruce, &c.; it has 
au elevation of about 450 feet above the general level of the country, and is 
covered with hills of diluvial sand and drift, from 85 to 100 feet in height, among 
which the three great rivers of the American Continent — the Mississippi, 
St Lawrence, and Red Eiver — take their rise. The temperature of this district 
is from 5 to 8 degrees lower than that of the rest of the State ; although pos- 
sessing some good land, its principle value consists in its immense forests and its 
rich mineral deposits of copper, iron and the precious metals. 

The valley of the Red River forms another district larger than the highlands, 
containing 18,000 square miles, with a deep, black soil composed of alluvial 
mould, and rich in organic deposits. This district produces the heaviest crops 
of grain, especially wheat, of any section in the United States. It has a sub- 
soil of clay, is but sparsely timbered, with but few rivers or lakes, and is not 
therefore so well drained as other parts of the State. 

The Mississippi valley comprises the third district; it contains about 50,000 
square miles, or about three-fifths of the whole State. It is the " garden spot " 
of the Northwest, and comprises one of the finest agricultural districts in the 
world. Its general characteristics are those of a rolling prairie region, resting 
on secondary rocks ; it is unusually well drained, both Ijy the nature of the soil, 
which is a warm, dark calcareous and sandy loam, and the innumerable lakes and 
streams which cover its surface with a perfect network. It is dotted by numer- 
ous and extensive groves and belts of timber. These main districts are also 
subdivided into smaller ones by the valleys of the numerous streams which in- 
tersect them; but space does not admit of a detailed description. 

Rivers and Streams. — The Mississippi river, 2,400 miles long, which drains a 
larger region of country than any stream on the globe, with the exception of the 
Amazon, rises in Lake Itasca, in the northern part of Minnesota, and flows 
southeasterly through the State 797 miles, 134 of which forms its eastern boun- 
dary. It is navigable for large boats to St Paul, and above the Falls of St. 
Anthony for smaller boats for about 150 miles farther. The season of navigation 
is generally about eight months— sometimes a mouth longer ontside of Lake 
Pepin. In 1868 steamboats run here ten of the twelve months; and the fourth 
annual steamboat excursion from St Paul on the Mississippi, took place on the 
first of December, and the river closed on the 10th. 

The principal towns and cities'on the Mississippi in Minnesota, are, Winona, 
Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings, St Paul, Minneapolis, St Anthony, 
Anoka, Dayton, Monticello, St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, Watab. 

77ie Minnesota River, the source of which is among the Coteau des Prairies, 
in Dacotah Territory, flows from Big Stone Lake, on the western boundary of the 
State, a distance of nearly 500 miles, through the heart of the southwestern part 
of the State, and empties into the Mississippi at Fort Snelliug, 5 miles above St. 
Paul. It is navigable as high up as the Yellow Medicine, 238 miles above its 
mouth, during good stages of water. Its principal places are Shakopee, Chaska, 
Carver, Belle Plaine, Henderson, LeSneur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter, Man- 
kato. New Ulm and Redwood. 

The St. Croix River, rising in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, forms about 
130 miles of the eastern boundary of the State. It empties into the Mississippi 
nearly opposite Hastings, and is navigable to Taylor's Falls, about 50 miles. It 
penetrates the pineries and furnishes immmse water power along its course. The 
principal places on it are Stllwater and Taylor's Falls. 

Tlie Red River, lites in Luke Traverse, and flows northward, forming the 
western boundary of the State from Big Stone Lake to the British Possessions, 
a distance of 380 miles. It is navigable from Breckenridge, at the mouth of the 
Bois de Sioux River to Hudson's Bay ; the Saskatchewan, a tributary of the 
Red River, is also said to be a navigable stream, thus promising an active com- 
mercial trade from this vast region when it shall have become settled up, via the 
St. Paul and Pacific railroad, which connects the navigable' waters of the Red 
River with those of the Mississippi. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 1 1 

Cannon River, dividing Dakota and Goodhue counties, it is said can be made 
a navigable stream by slack-water improvements, for which purpose a company 
with a capital of $50,000 has lieeu formed. 

Among the more important of the numerous small streams are Rum River, 
valuable for lumbering ; Vermilion River, furnishing extensive water power and 
possessing some of the finest casades in the United States ; the Crow, Blue 
Earth, Root, Sauk, Le Sueur, Ziimbro, Cottonwood, Long Prairie, Red Wood, 
Waraju, Pejula Ziza, Mauja VVakan, Buffalo, Wild Rice, Plum, Sand Hill, Clear 
Water, Red Lake, Thief, Black, Red Cedar, and Des Moines rivers ; the St. 
Louis Rivi?r, a large stream flowing into Lake Superior, navigable for twenty- 
one miles from its lake outlet, and furnishing a water-power at its falls said to be 
equal to that of the falls of the Mississippi at St. Anthony, and many others, 
besides all the innumerable hosts of first and secondary tributaries to all the 
larger streams. The sources of most of these streams being high, their descent 
is considerable, furnishing the finest system of water-powers of every grade in 
the world. Many of the brooks, with deep cut channels, are full of trout, leap 
and dance merrily over the prairies, often taking sudden leaps, forming beautiful 
and romantic cascades. 

One of these, on the outlet of Lake Minnetonka, has been immortalized by 
Longfellow, in Hiawatha : 

" Here the Falls of lirinne-ha-ha 
F'.asli and gleam among the cak trees. 
Laugh and leap into the vallej ," 

Lakes. — Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water on the globe, forms a 
portion of the eastern boundary of Minnesota, giving it 167 miles of lake 
coast, with one of the best natural harbors and breakwaters, atDuLuth, Minne- 
sota, to be found on any coast. When the Superior and Mississippi railroad 
is completed, connecting the commercial centres of the State with Lake Superior, 
a large lake commerce will spring into existence. 

Besides, the whole surface of the State is literally begemmed with innnumera- 
ble lakes, estimated by Schoolcraft at 10,000 They are of all sizes, from 500 
yards in diameter to 10 miles. Their picturesque beauty and loveliness, with 
their pebbly bottoms, transparent waters, wooded shores and sylvan associations, 
must be seen to be fully appreciated. They all abound in fish, black and rock 
bass, pickerel, pike, perch, cat, sunfish, &c., of superior quality and flavor ; and 
in the spring and fall they are the haunts of innumerable duck, geese, and other 
wild fowl. In some places they are solitary, at others found in groups or chains. 
Many are without outlets, others give rise to meandering and meadow-bordered 
brooks. These lakes act as reservoirs for water, penetrating the soil and by 
their exhalations giving rise to summer showers during dry weather. Prof. 
Maury says of Minnesota, that although far from the sea, " it may be considered 
the best watered State in the Union, and it doubtless owes its abundance of 
summer rains measurably to this lake system." 

Forests. — Among those unacquainted with the State, Minnesota is apt to be 
regarded as a prairie country, destitute of timber. On the contrary, there is no 
Western State better supplied with forests. 

In the northren part of the State is an immense forest region estimated to 
cover upwards of 21,000 square miles, constituting one of the great sources of 
health and industry of the State. The prevailing wood of this region is pine, 
with a considerable proportion of ash, birch, maple, elm, poplar, &c. West of 
the^Mississippi, lying between it and the Minnesota, and extending south of that 
stream, is the Big Woods, about 100 miles iu length and 40 miles wide. This 
district is full of lakes, and broken by small openings. The prevailing woods 
are oak, maple, elm, ash, basswood, butternut, black walnut and hickory. Be- 
sides these two large forests, nearly all the streams are fringed with woodland, 
and dense forests of considerable extent cover the valleys. The extensive bot- 
toms of the Mississippi, Minnesota and Blue Earth are covered with a heavy 
growth of white and black walnut, maple, boxwood, hickory, linden and cotton 



12 MESTNESOTA : 

wood. The valleys of the Zumbro and Root rivers support large tracts of 
forest growth. They are found more or less in Wabshaw, Dodge, Steele, 
Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn and Olmsted and contiguous counties. 

But the oak openings, distributed in groves and large parks through the up- 
lands along the margins of the numerous streams, form a large resource of the 
prairie population for domestic and mechanical jxirposes. Towards the western 
boundary of the State the timber becomes more scanty, and it assumes more the 
character of a vast prairie region, dotted here and there with groves and belts 
of timber, fringing the Red River and the minor streams. The choice timbered 
lands and oak openings will be first selected by the settler, and the treeless prai- 
ries of the western frontier will be covered with timber in a few years, as soon 
as the annual scourge of the prairie fire is checked. Wherever these fires are 
arrested the land is soon covered by a dense growth of timber. 

THE PINERIES AXD LUMBERIXG DfTEREST. 

The vast pine forests cover the northern part of the State, extending from 
Lake Superior to the outlet of Red Lake, and extending as far south as latitude 
46° in Anoka county. The principal pineries where lumber is obtained are sit- 
uated upon the headwaters of the Upper Mississippi, and those of the St. Croix, 
Kettle, Snake, Rum, Crow Wing and Otter Tail rivers. The logs are cut in the 
dead of winter, and when the ground is covered with snow are conveyed to the 
streams, down which they are floated in the spring when the snow and ice melts. 
These pine forests being almost inexhaustible, constitute a va?t source of wealth 
for generations to come. They give employment to a large number of lumber- 
men, who constitute a hardy class of industry as distinct as that of railroad or 
steamboatmen. 

The lumber trade of Minnesota is constantly increasing, and the Lake Superior 
and Mississippi River Railroad, running as it will through an immense lumber 
district, will greatly add to it. The amount of logs and lumber cut and 
manufactured at the Falls of Saint Anthonv, and the St. Croix, in the year 1868, 
reaches nearly 400,000,000 feet I 

MIN^ERAL RESOURCES. 

Coffer and Iron. — The mineral deposits of Minnesota are another important 
source of wealth. In the northern part of the State copper and iron ore of 
superior quality are found. The copper mines are situated on the northern shore 
of Lake Superior, and are rich and extensive. Very pure specimens of copper 
ore have also been obtained from Stuart and Knife rivers. Thick deposits of 
iron ore are found on Portage and Pigeon rivers, said to be equal in tenacity 
and malleability to the best Swedish and Russia iron. 

Coal — Deposits of coal have been discovered on the Big Cottonwood river, 
a tributary of the Minnesota, and indications of it have been observed in other 
localities. On the Cottonwood veins some geologists are confident that rich 
beds will yet be developed. 

The Precious Metals. — " A geological survey, made under the auspices of 
the i^tate in the summer of 1865, developed the existence of the precious metals 
on the shores of Vermilion Lake, 80 miles north of the head of Lake Superior. 
Scientific analysis attested the presence of gold and silver, in the quartz surface 
rock, in sufficient quantities to warrant the employment of labor and capital in 
their extraction, for which object a number of joint stock companies have been 
formed and a considerable number of enterprising persons provided with neces- 
sary appliances for mining, have repaired to that place in search of gold. There 
is good reason to believe the search will be successful." — H. C. Rogers, Sec- 
retary of State 

But the richest mines of wealth belonging to any State is a productive soil, 
and in this Minnesota is unequalled. There is a mine of gold on every farm of 
160 acres, and it requires no capital to work it except industry. 

Granite. — A fine bed of granite, equal to the best Quincy granite for building 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 13 

purposes, crpps out at Sauk Rapids. A quarry is opened there now, and the 
granite brought to St. Paul, where it is used in the construction of the U. S. 
Custom House, and is also used in some fine edifices ia Minneapolis, St. Cloud 
and other cities of the State. 

Limestone of fine quality for building purposes is found in many portions of 
the State, (in fact nearly all over it,) and affords ample material lor the manufac- 
ture of lime. 

Sandstone exists at Fort Suelling, Mendota, and other points in inexhaustible 
quantities. A fine white sand for the manufacture of flint glass abounds near 
St. Paul, St. x\.nthony and Minneapolis said to be equal to any in the world. 
An extensive quarry of slate stone is found on the Saint Louis River, and 
probably exists at other points, A kind of blue clay, underlying the soil in a 
large part of the State makes brick of a good quality. White marl occurs in 
large beds at Minneapolis, St. Anthony and other places ; it is used for pottery 
manufacturing, and also makes a h-ard durable brick similar to the famous 
" Milwaukee brick," and Chaska, on the Minnesota River, also produces a brick 
said to surpass that of Milwaukee. In Wabashaw county a bed of the finest 
porcelain clay has been found. 

Salt Springs. — Numerous very pure salt springs, yielding upwards of a 
bushel of salt to every twenty-four gallons of water, abound in the Red River 
valley The northwest, which consumes vast quantities of salt for pork and beef 
packing, and other purposes, will eventually be supplied from this source. The 
value of this source of wealth may be estimated from the fact that two million 
bushels are annually imported into Chicago alone, from Xew York and Penn- 
sylvania. 

Tripoli. — An inexhaustible bed of the purest Tripoli, requiring, according to 
Prof. Shepard, no prpparation to be fit at once for use and commerce, has been 
discovered near Stillwater. It is twenty feet thick and at least a half mile long. 

MINNESOTA AS A STOCK-GROWIXG STATE. 

For raising cattle and horses, Minnesota is fully equal to Illinois ; and for 
sheep growing it is far superior. According to established laws of nature cold 
climates require a large quantity and finer quality of wool or fur than warm 
ones, hence the fur and wool bearing animals are found in perfection only in 
northern regions. The thick coat of the sheep especially identifies it with a 
cold countiy ; the excessive heat to which their wool subjects them in a warm 
climate generates disease. The fieece of Minnesota sheep is remarkably fine and 
heavy, and they are not subject to the rot and other diseases so disastrous to 
sheep in warm and moist localities. It is asserted by stock growers that sheep 
brought here M'hile suSering with the rot speedily become healthy, and the 
same has been said of horses with heaves and shortness of breath. The sleek 
and velvety appearance of horses here in summer time gives them the appear- 
ance of highly kept stallions. The cattle raised here are also remarkably 
healthy, the unanimous testimony of butchers being that they seldom meet with 
a diseased liver. 

Our fine, rich upland meadows afford excellent facilities for grazing purposes; 
and hay in abundance for keeping stock during the winter may be had for the 
reaping. The characteristic perfection and nutritious qualities of the grasses in 
this -State enables the farmer to keep his horses and cattle fat on it all winter 
•without grain. The valleys and margins of the numerous streams and lakes, 
found on ahr.ost every farm, furnish an abundance of a coirser grass than that 
obtained from the ujjland meadows ; this is generally fed to cattle, which are 
very fond of it both in its green and cured state. 

Although the M'iuters in Minnesota are apparently longer, the actual number 
of days during which stock has to be fed here is uo more than in Ohio and 
Southern Illinois. 

Hogs also do extremely well here, and the abundance and certainty of the 
grain crop enables farmers to raise them as cheaply as elsewhere. 

All stock requires shelter during the winter in this climate, but the necessity is 



14 MINNESOTA ! 

no greater than in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The washing, cHilling and debil- 
itating winter rains of those States are far more injurious to out stock than 
our severest cold. All the shelter which stock requires here is that readily 
furnished by the immense straw piles which accumulate from the threshing of 
the annual grain crop. A frame-work of rails or poles is made, and the straw 
thrown over it, leaving the south side 'open. Under this cattle stand, and feed on 
the straw, in perfect security from the inclemencies of the severest winter. 

SOCIAL STATUS. 

The condition of society in all newly settled countries is a subject of 
interest to the settler. As a general thing the social status, in point of educa- 
tion, morals and refinement, is inferior to that of the older States. But in Min- 
nesota, although outside the capital and its other principal cities we do not boast 
much artijicial refinement, the morals of the community, as shown by our crim- 
inal statistics, are at least equal to those of the model States of New-England, 

The society throughout the State is good ; no prim a«d retired New-England 
village could outvie our young and thriving cities with their cleanly, decorous 
and whitewashed appearance. The population iscomposed mainly of American, 
Irish and Germans, but almost every nationality is represented. Most of the 
settlers are plain, honest, industrious farmers, attracted to our State by the salu- 
brity of its climate, and the productiveness and cheapness of its lands. A large 
proportion of the population is made up of the best classes from the older States, 
North and South, who have come to reap the advantages of our fine climate, or 
to invest their means in property in our fine agricultural districts and in our rap- 
idly gTOwing towns, where immense fortunes have been realized by their rapid 
and solid growth. 

We rarely see here any of that ruffianism and lawlessness which in most new 
States renders them unpleasant as a permanent residence. It would be as diffi- 
cult to find a township without its " meeting house " and school house as in Ohio 
or Pennsylvania. The various religious denominations are proportioned among 
the population in about the same ratio as in the older States. 

The following table, from the Bureau of Statistics, exhibits the ratio of crime 
in several States as compared with Minnesota : 



State. No. of Indictments. 


No. of ConvictioDB. 


Ratio of Convictions. 


Ohio, - - 3,571 


1,234 


1 in 1,950 


Massachusetts, - 4,248 


1,295 


1 in 841 


New-York, - 


1,842 


1 in 1,900 


Minnesota, - - 122 


44 


1 in 3,854 



" The comparison is remarkably favorable to Minnesota, but might have been 
expected in a population chiefly agricultui-al." 

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 

Minnesota took the subject of education in hand at an early stage of her set- 
tlement, and she may now justly boast of possessing the most nmnificeut endow- 
ment for educational purposes of any State in the Union. Two sections of land, 
1,280 acres, in every township, are set apart for sale or lease in aid of common 
schools, amounting in all to three million acres. 

In the Message of Governor Marshall to the Legislature of Minnesota, January 
7th, 1869, upon this subject, he says : 

"The sales of school lands during the year 1868 have been 76,910 acres, pro- 
ducing $464,840.61, which sum added to the former accumulations of the per- 
manent school fund, makes the magnificent fund of two millions seventy-seven 
thousand, eighty-two dollars!" The State Land Commissioner estimates that the 
land granted to the State for school purposes will amount to three million acres 
when the Government Surveys are completed. But little more than one tenth 
of the whole have been sold — making allowance for inferior lands there will ulti- 
matly be derired from these lauds the grand sum of sixteen million dollars for 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 15 

the perpetual use of common schools. What an inheritance for the children of 

Minnesota !" 

From the able report of the Hon. M. H. Daonell, State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, 1 take the following facts : 

Whole number of school districts in the State in 1868, was 2,353 ; whole num- 
ber of children in the State by the returns for 1868, 129,103, an increase for the 
year of 14,682 over 1867; whole number of teachers in 1868, 3,276; value of 
school houses in the State in 1868, 1,091,559.42. His report says Minnesota 
has a larger number of school houses than any other State in the Union of the 
same population and taxaljle property. Her total expenditures for school pur- 
poses during the last two years exceed $1,500,000, and her school houses have 
already cost over one million dollars ! These facts constitute a record of which 
our young State may well be proud. 

STATE UNIVEKSITY. 

This institution is located in the city of St. Anthony and now in successful 
operation. A land grant of 46,080 acres was made for the endownmeut of a 
State University and a magnificent college edifice erected. In addition to the 
above land grant, in March, 1868, by an act of our State Legislature the Agri- 
cultural (Jollege Lauds granted by the general government were given to the 
University of Minnesota, being 120,000 acres. 

The First State Normal School is located at Winona and in successful opera- 
tion, training teachers for our common schools. The number in attendance the 
past year 122. The school buildings are large, elegant and a credit to the 
State. 

The Second State Normal School is located at Mankato, and has but recently 
been opened. 

The Third State Normal School is located at St. Cloud, and will, in a short 
time, enter upon its career of u.sef Iness. 

Private enterprise has also established many private schools, classical Acada- 
mies and Seminaries in different portions of the State, thus affording educational 
facilities surpassing many of the older States. 

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 

Minnesota, although as yet too young to have a system of the noble public 
charities perfected, her wants in this line are provided for as soon as felt. An 
Asylum for the deaf, dumb and blind is in operation at Faribault ; ample land 
grants have been made for the erection of an lusaue Asylum, as well as for the 
"support and education of the orphans of soldiers who fell in the late war. The 
Insane Asylum has been located at St. Peter, and is now in practical operation, 
and contains about 100 patients at this time. A State Reform School has been 
located near St Paul, and is now in opf ration. There are two Orphan Asylums 
in St. Paul, one under the auspices of the Protestants, tlie other of the Cath- 
olics. 

BAXKS. 
The State has sixteen National Banks, with an aggregate paid up capital of 
nearly two millions, located as follows : 

St. Paul, 3, Capital. $900,000 

Minneapolis, 3, " 200,000 

Winona, 2, " 100,000 

Hastings, 2, " 200,000 

Red Wing, 1, " 50,000 

■ Rochester, 1, " 60,0u0 

Shakopee, 1, " 50,000 

Austin, 1, " 60,000 

StillwatiM-, 1, " 50,000 

Faribault, 1, " 50.000 

Mankato. 1, " 50,000 



16 MINNESOTA: 

These, with numerous private banks located at the principal manufacturing 
and commercial centres, afford ample conveniences for the transaction of busi- 
ness. More banking capital, however, is needed to facilitate the rapidly increas- 
ing business of the State, and more than double the present amount would find 
active, safe and profitable employment 

RIVER TRADE — STEAMBOATS AJND BARGES. 

The steamboat business of Minnesota is as yet confined to the Mississippi, 
the Minnesota and the St. Croix rivers. On the Mississippi the business is 
principally done by the following lines of boats, although a large number of 
independent or " wild " boats, as they are called, engage in our trade : 

The North Western Union Packet Company, [white collar line,] being a union 
of the " Davidson Line " and the Minnesota Packet Comjjany, has within a few 
years grown to a large and influential company, starting, it is said with a " Line " 
consisting of one boat, they now own fourteen first cla<«s packets, nineteen stern 
wheel steamers together with one hundred and thirty-one barges, and employ over 
2,300 men. The capital stock of this company is $1,500,000. Their boats ply 
between St. Louis and St. Paul, and LaCrosse and St. Paul ; two boats leav- 
ing St. Paul daily, connecting with the 111. Central R.R. at Dubuque, Milwau- 
kee R.R. at Prairie du Chien and LaCrosse, and also a daily Line from St. Louis 
to St. Paul. This line also has boats on the St. Croix, one boat daily to Tayl- 
or's Falls, and on the Minnesota a daily packet besides several freighters. They 
have recently purchased the St. Louis and Quincy Packet Co's Boats. 

The Northern Line boats ply between St. Louis and St. Paul, but I have not 
been able to obtain the facts as to this Line. 

The, Collector of Customrs at the Port of St Paul, gives the aggregate ton- 
nage of that port for 1868, at 16,430.27 tons, which falls far short of the 
actual amount, because of a large number of the boats being registered at Du- 
buque and Galena. Were the boats and barges plying to the Port of St. Paul 
all registered there, the tonnage would double the amount given above. 

An association of capitalists have recently projected an enterprise of great 
moment to the Northern portion of the State. It is that of steamboat navi- 
gation from the Falls of Saint Anthony to St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, also from 
Sauk Rapids to the Falls of Pokegama. These, if successful, will greatly aid in 
the development of an immense extent of valuable country. The localities that 
will be more immediately benefited are St Anthony, Minneapolis, Auoka, Day- 
ton, Otsego, Mouticello, Clear Water, Elk River, St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little 
Falls, Sauk Centre, Alexandria, &c. 

THE RAILROAD SYSTEM OF MLNNTESOTA. 

In 1857, Congress made a land grant of four and a half million acres to Min- 
nesota for railroad purposes. In 1864, an additional grant was made. 

These acts grant ten sections, or 6,4U0 acres of land for each mile of road to 
be built under it and projected the great lines which were intended to benefit all 
parts of the State, and provide for its increasing demands. These lines are as 
follows : 

STILLWATER AND ST. PAUL R. R. CO. 

1st. — A line from Stillwater to St. Paul, 18 miles in length. It has been 
located, and the franchises of the company and its laud grant are in the hands of 
the business men of Stillwater, who are directly interested in the early comple- 
tion of the road. 

When finished it will bring to St. I'aul the heavy lumber trade of the St 
Croix Yalley, and will materially assist in the development of a rich agricultural 
region. 

THE FIRST DIVISION OF THE ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

2d. —From St. Paul, via St. Anthony and Minneapolis, to a point on the 
western boundary of the State, near or at Big Stone Lake, with a branch from 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 17 : 

St Aothony to Watab. The main liue, I'rom St. Paul to the western boundary 
of the State, is 200 milet- in length. It has been located the whole distance ; 
forty miles of the road is iu operation, it is graded and ready for the ii-on', 
and the company expect to complete it to the ctutre of Meeker County,' 
through the "Big Woods," a distance of 70 miles from St. Paul, by the first of 
June, 18C9, and to complete ninety additional miles by the first of January, 1870. 
An expensive bridge over the Mississippi, just above" the Falls of SL Anthonyl 
has been completed and is now iu constant use. 

The branch line from St. Anthony up the valloy of the Mississippi, is com- 
pleted to Sauk Piapids, a distance of 65 miles, and is now in operation. The 
remaining section of the branch line will be finished as soon as the business of 
the country will justify. 

TIIE ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC R. K. CO. .„ 

3d. — A line from AVatal), where it connects with the First Division of the St 
Paul and Pacific Eail Iload, via Crow Wing, to Pembina, on the great Red 
Eiver of the North, about 320 tidies in length, with a branch from some point 
between St Cloud and Crow Wing to Lake Superior, a distance of 120 miles. 

The line from Watab to Crow "\\'ing has been located, but is not yet in course 
of cou;:truction. Operations have not commenced on the Lake Superior branch. 

ST. PAUL AND SIOUX CITY, [lATE MINKESOTA VALLETT R. R.] 

4th.— A line from St. Paul, up the valley of the Minnesota, to Mankato, 
thence iu a southwesterly direction to the Iowa State line ; there to meet a road 
from Sioux City, Iowa, to the Minnesota Stale line. 

The distance iiom St. Paul to Iowa State line is 170 miles ; from thence to 
Sioux City 70 miles. 

The road is completed and in operation from St Paul to Mankato, 86 miles, 
and work on the line is in progress toward Sioux City. The distance from 
Mankato to Sioux City is 170 miict, to which point the Sioux City and Pacific 
road is now completed. 

THE MILWAUKEE AXD ST. PAUL RAILWAY CO. 

6th. — A line from St Paul and Minneapolis (junction at Mendota) via Fari- 
bault and Owatonna, to the north line of the State of Iowa. This line runs 
almost due north and south ; it intersects the Winona and St Peter Rail Road 
at Owatonna; is about 110 niiles long, and connects with the Iowa Divisionof 
the same cumpimy, which is comiilote to McGregor, on the Mississippi, opposite 
Prairie du Chien. 

This Railway furnishes the only all rail continuous route from Milu-avkee and 
Chicago to St. Patd and MinntupoUs, connecting at Mendota with St. Paul 
and Sivux City Railroad for Si. Peter, Mankato and all points on the Minne- 
sota River; and at St.Paula.nd MinniapoUs yviih the St. Paul and Pacific Rail- 
road for St. Cloud Liud all points in the northwest, being the direct route to the 
valley of the great " Red River of the JS'orth." 

Arrangements have been made and now begun for bridging the Mississippi at 
St. Paul and running into that city at a convenient point for the accommodation 
of both passenger and freight traflic. The city of Miuneaj)olis has also granted 
the right of way for this road to unite tracks with tlie main line of the St. Paul 
and Pacific Railroad within its limits. When these important additions are made, 
the facilities for the tranhuction of business and interchange of traUic between the 
different Railways of the State will be as perfect as those of any of the older 
States, and will tend greatly to increase the usefulness of these lines to the public. 

LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI R. R. CO. 

6th. — A line fiom St Paul, which is the head of navigation on the Mississippi 
river, to *he head of Lake Supeiior in Minne.'-ota, with authority to connect 
with a branch to Superior City, ^^'isconsin. The distance to the navigable 
waters of Lake Supeiior is lo3 miles ; to the head of Lake Superior, 160 milee 
This liue is controlled by the Lake Soi)erior and Mississippi U. R. Co. It i^ 
3 



18 MINlSrESOTA : 

completed to Wyoming', 30 miles from St. Paul, and will be pushed to completion 
the entire distance within two years. This road has also a grant of seven sec- 
tions to the mile of State lauds in addition to those named. 

THE HASTINGS AND DAKOTA R. R. CO. 

7th. — A line from Hastings, through the counties of Dakota, Scott, Carver, and 
McLeod, to the foot of Big Stoue Lake. 

This road is finished to Fanniugton, where it intersects the Milwaukee and 
St. Paul Road, a distance of 22 miles. It is an east and west line across the 
State, and work progressing. 

THE WINONA AND ST. PETER R. R. CO. 

8th. — Aline from Winona, via St. Peter, to the western boundary of the State. 

This line extends east and west across the entire State. It is completed to 
Waseca, 105 miles west of Winona, and will be finished to the Minnesota River, 
140 miles, by the close of 1869. When completed, the line will be 250 miles 
lopg. It intersects the Milwaukee and St. Paul E^ailway at Owatonna, and has 
recently been purchased by the Xorth Western R. R. Co., which insures its 
rapid completion. Within three or four mouths the eastern connection of this 
road with the iVIilwaukee and St. Paul road will be in operation, thus forming- 
another all rail route from the East to the interior of Minnesota. 

THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA R. R. CO. 

9th. — A line from La Crescent up the valley of the Root River, through the 
counties of Houston, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, Jackson, 
Noble, aud Rock, to the western boundary of the SJtate 

This Hue is controlled by the Southern Minnesota R. R. Co., is completed to 
Lanesboro, Fillmore county, 50 miles west of the Mississippi river, aud will be 
pushed forward vigorously to its terminus at the Great Bend of the Missouri. 
This company propose to construct the road this season from Austin or Lansing, 
on the Milwaukee aud St, Paul road to Albert Lea, in Freeborn county, thence 
to Blue Earth City, Fairmont and Jackson. It crosses the entire State, from 
east to west, through the southern tier of counties, aud is upwards of 250 miles 
long. 

THE NORTHERN PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

10th. — During the past year several corps of engineers have been engaged in 
locating the line of this road across the State of Minnesota. 

Two lines have been run: one commeuciug at Bayfield, on Lake Superior, 
passing about lu miles south of Superior City, aud thence via St Cioud, up the 
valley of Sauk River to Breckenridge, on the Red River of t;.e Xorth. The 
other, corameucing at Superior City, passes almost due west, crossing the Miss- 
issippi 10 or 12 miles above Crow Wing, aud thence to Breckeuridge, on Red 
River. 

It is not yet known which line will be adopted; but either will cross the State 
from east to west, and will add immensely to the development of Northern Min- 
nesota. 

All the roads named have been endowed by Congress with land grants of ten 
sections or 6,400 acres pev mile, with the exception of the Northern Pacific 
which has a grant of twenty sections or 12,800 acres per mile. 

THE CHICAGO AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY CO. 

11th. — In additiou to the lines named above, the St. Paul and Chicago Rail- 
way Company has been authorized to construct a road along the Mississippi 
River from St. Paul to the southern boundary of the State, and has been 
endowed with a valuable grant of State lauds, amounting to fourteen sections or 
nearly 10,000 acres of land per mile. The liro has been surveyed as far as 
Winona, a distance of 100 miles, aud partly graded. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 19 



It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this system of railroads to 
the present and future population of the State. The construction of these lines 
now in active progress gives omploymeiit to vast numbors of men, and gives as- 
surance that every part of the State in the near future will enjoy the benefits of 
a cheap and speedy traus])Ortation of passengers and products to and fro. And 
when completed, the system will give to the whole State every advantage, so far 
as markets are concerned, which now belonss to the favored State of Illinois. 

Those lines, covering over 2,000 miles wholly within tlie limits of the State, 
are rapidly opening up some of the best lands in the world, by bringing them' 
within easy reach of good markets. The different railroad companies are pur- 
suing a liberal policy towards immigrants offering them inducements as to price 
and time of payments, seeing that their own prosperity is identical with that of the 
State. St. Paul may be said to form the heart or centre of this net-woik of the 
" arteries of trade." 

The great facility which Minnesota possesses of sending her produce to mar- 
ket is not the least of her many advantages. The richest lands and the finest 
climate in the world are useless in a commercial point of view if not connected 
with the great trading emporiums by wide and accessible channels of trade. The 
broad bosom of the Mississippi sweeps our commerce to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and brings back the cotton of the South to be manufactured by our numberless 
water-powers ; our railroads open another channel to the Atlantic coast ; while by 
way of lake navigation, via Lake Superior and the great Pacific Railroad, con- 
necting us with both the Atlantic and Pacific, afford ample and unequalled com- 
mercial facilities. 

Navigation on Lake Superior opens the last of April and closes about the 1st 
of December. In previous years projiellers have left Buffalo as late aa the 10th 
of December, in 1861 as late as the 21st. 

"The navigation of Lake Superior, contrary to the general opinion, is much 
safer than that of the lower lakes. Its waters, being deeper, make easier seas, and 
it is navigable as many days in the year as any of them. * * * * 
It has been predicted by thinking men, who understand the subject, that when 
steam communication shall have been effected across the continent from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic, a change must take place in the courses of the commerce 
between the East and the West. When you can lay down in London and Hamburg 
cargoes of tea, silks, &c., from China, within fifty to sixty days after their ship- 
ment from there, then the old courses of trade by the way of the Cape of Good 
Hope will have to be abandoned — then the commercial sceptre will depart from 
England and pass into our keeping. This all seems as sure as anything in the 
future can be." — Report of the Buffalo Board of Trade, for 1866. 

PROJECTED KAIL ROADS. 

In addition to the ten Land Grant Roads already mentioned, nearly all of 
which are progressing rapidly, there are the following eleven roads projected, 
some of which will be commenced this year. 

1st. — The Owatorna and State Line R. R. Co. propose to construct a road 
from Owatonna via Albert Lea to the south line of the State, there to connect 
with a road now in progress northward through Iowa. Large local aid has been 
secured. 

2cl. — A road from Lanesboro, Fillmore county, via Chatfield to Rochester, 
Zumbrota and Cannon Falls to Saint Paul, passing through the counties of 
Olmsted, Wabashaw, Goodhue and Dakota. 

3(1. A road from the Mississippi river, starting at the city of Red Wing 

thence via Cannon Falls and Faribault to Blue Earth City. 

4tli — A road from Wabashaw at foot of Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi 
river, via Plaiuview, Rochester and Lansing to Omaha, with a branch via 
Faribault to St. Peter. 

6th. — A road from Minneapolis up the west side of the Mississippi river 



20 MINNESOTA: 

via Dayton, Monticello and Clear Water to St Cloud, thence up Sauk Valley, 
via Sauk Centre to Alexandria, Douglas county. 

6th. — A road from White Bear Lake, on the Mississippi river and Lake 
Superior road via St Anthony and Minneapolis to fchakopee, Scott county, 
thence up the west side of the Slinnesota river, via Cha.ska, Carver and Hen- 
derson to St. Peter. 

7th. — An " Air and Hour Line Koad" from St Paul to Minneapolis and Saint 
Anthony, distance from the city limits of St Paul to the city hmits of those 
cities five miles. 

8th. — A road from Mankato via Blue Earth City, to the Iowa line, theuce 
to connect with the Keokuk and Fort Des Moines R. R. , ■ 

9th. — A road from Taylor's Falls, on the St Crois, to connect with the Mis- 
sissippi river and Lake Superior R. R. 

10th. — A road from St. Cloud to Mankato, passing through Stearns, Meeker, 
Wright, McLeod, Sibley and Isicolet counties. 

11. — Railroad from Mankato, via Albert Lea, to intersect a rotd from Iowa, 
up the valley of Turkey river. 

MAXUFACTURDvG FACILITIES. 
Our State has, during the year 1868, made considerable progress in manufac- 
turies of various kinds. Want of space prevents a detail. In nearly every 
section of the State there has been a gratifying improvement in this respect, 
more so than during any previous. year of our history. 

"Apart from social causes and the general influence of the stimulating anf' 
exacting climates of the North, in developing the forms of skilled industry, it is 
owing chiefly to two physical circumstances that Xew-Eugland has attained her 
present eminence in manufactures, in spite of her deflciency in the useful minerals 
and the raw material employed in the arts. These are, first, her abundant water 
power ; and, second, her favorable commercial position which has enabled her to 
obtain ready supplies of raw material from abroad and to^distribute the product 
through a wide range of dependent markets. These circumstances alone among 
the physical conditions Oi manufacturing power, have raised the little State of 
Massachusetts, without internal resources of raw material, without coal or iron, to 
the first rank among American States in the manufacture especially of textile 
fabrics. And these purely physical conditions of industrial developement exist in 
Minnesota in a greater de^Tee than in New-England, and in addition she possesses 
to a large extent essential elements of raw material of which New-England is 
destitute. 

"1. Minnesota possesses a more ample and effective water power than New- 
England. The falls and lapids of St Anthony alone, with a total descent of 64 
feet affords an available hydraulic capacity, according to an experienced and 
competent engineer, of 120,000 horse power. This is considerably gTeater than 
the whole motive power — steam and water— employed in textile manufactures in 
England in 1850, and nearly «even times as great as the water power so employed. 
" That is to say, the available power created by this magnificent watirfail, is 
more than sufBcient to drive all the 25,000,000 spindles and 4,000 mills oi' England 
and Scotland combined. The eutii-e machinery of the English Manchester and 
the American Lowell, if they could be transplanted here, would scarcely press 
upon its immense hydrauhc capabilities. But as compared with those gi^eat 
industrial centres, the Falls of St Anthony possess one decisive advantage, which 
is to a great extent illustrative of the functions of the State as a commercial and 
manufacturing emporium, this splendid cataract forais the terminus of continuous 
navigation on the Mississippi ; and the same waters which lavish on the broken 
ledges of limestone a strength almost sufficient to weave the garments of the 
■world, may gather the products of its mills almost at their very doors and distribute 
them to every part of the great valley of the Mississippi. 

There are now at the Falls of St. Anthony thirteen grist mills, fourteen saw 
mills, two woolen mills, two paj>er mills, one oil mill. These, with minor 
establishments there, produced in 1867, $4,669,358 worth of manufactured 
articles, and in 1868 nearly §6,000,000, with a ciipital employed m manufac- 
turing industry of $2,894,360. 



ITS Ar>VA2fTAGE> TO SETTLEn«<. 21 

" The St Croix Falls, which are ouly secoud to St. Authony Falls in hydraulic 
power, are similarly, though somewhat less advantageously situated at the head 
of navigation upon a tributary ot the Mississippi. Except the iMinnesota, nearly 
every ti'ibutary of the Mississippi, in its rapid and broken descent to the main 
stream, aflords valuable mill sites. The Mississippi itself in its descent from its 
Itasca summit to Fort Suelling, in which it falls 836 feet, or over 16 inches per 
mile, is characterized by long steps of slack water, broken at long intervals by 
abrupt transitions in the character of the rocks which forms its bed, and forming a 
fine series of falls and rapids available for hydraulic works. Pokegoma Falls, 
Little Falls, Sauk Rapids, and St. Anthony Falls, ai-e the chief of these. But the 
Elk, Rum, St. Croix, and numberless smaller streams on the east slope of the 
Mississispi, the Sauk, Crow, Yermillion, Cannon, Zumbro, Miuneiska, Root, and 
their branches, nearly all the tributaries of the Minnesota, and a multitude of 
streams besides, in their abrupt descent over broken beds of limestone or sand- 
stone, through long and winding valleys or ravines, with a fall of from three to 
eight feet per mile, afford an unlimited abundance of available water power to 
nearly every county in the State. This diffusion of hydraidic power thronghoat 
the whole State, is a feature whose value as an element of developement, can 
scarcely be over estimated, as it gives to every neighborhood the means of 
manufacturing its own flour and lumber, and affords the basis of all those 
numerous local manufactures which enter into the industrial economy of every 
Qorthern community. 

"2. Passing to the secoud point of comparison with Xew-Englaud, already 
incidentally touched upon, the commercial position of Minnesota upon the termini 
of the three great water lines of the continent, not only gives it an immensely 
wider capacity of interior trade, but a tar easier access to the sources of supply 
of raw material. A regi^ six times as large as all New-England, as yet 
undeveloped, but already starting on the swift career of Western growth, and 
capable of supporting many millipus of population, is directly dependent upon 
Minnesota for all the maaafactured commodities it may consume. Its position 
relative to these Xortbwesteru valleys, invests its manufacturing capabilities with 
an importance greater than those of any other of the interior districts of the con- 
tinent. For the future maoufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, it has decided 
advantages of position over Xew-Eugland. The Mississippi river brings it into 
intimate relations with the sources of the cotton supply, and it lies in the midst 
of the great wool zone of the continent." — /. .i. ffheelock. 

The'falls of the St. Louis river, at the point where the Lake Superior and 
Mississippi R. R. reaches the navagable waters of Lake Superior, said to furnish 
a manufacturing power equal lo that of the falls of the Mississippi river at St. 
Anthony, must not be omitted from the above list. 

Minnesota is evidently destined to become one of the greatest manufacturing 
States in the world, and already manufactories are springing up everywhere. 
There were five hundred and eleven establishments in 1860, with an aggi-egate 
capital of two and a half millions, producing annually four and a half million 
dollars worth of manufactures. The present number of establishments is esti- 
mated at 1,200, with a capital of twelve millions. 

Minnesota has the further advantage of possessing the raw material for a 
large class of manufactures,— copper, iron, wool, lumber, salt springs, sand for 
flint glas4 &c., as already referred to, also coal and peat. 

AGRICULTURAL CAPACITY — THE SOIL AXD ITS 
PRODUCTS. 

Xot only are the manufacturing facilities of Minnesota equal to any in the 
world, but its agricultural capacities are unsurpassed by the finest agricultural 
districts of the old States. This combination of agriculture and manufacture i3 
something very unusual ; generally where one feature is present, the other is ab- 
sent ; but here, both features exi-;t with all their advantages. Persona residing 



22 MINNESOTA : 

in the Middle and Western States too often regai-d Minnesota as an inhospita- 
ble region, too cold for agricutnral pursuits. But such will learn with surprise 
that few of the most productive districts in the world can compete with Minnesota. 

Soils. — "The prevailing soil of Minnesota is a dark, calcareous, sandy loam, 
containing a various intermixture of clay, abounding in mineral salts and in or- 
ganic ingredients, derived from the accumulation of decomposed vegetable mat- 
ter for long ages of growth and decay. The sand of which silica is the base, 
forms a large, proportion of this, as of all good soils. It plays an important part 
in the economy of growth, and is an essential constituent in the organism of 
all cereals. About sixty-seven per cent of the ash of the stems of wheat, corn, 
rye, barley, oats and sugar-cane, is pure silica, or flint. It is this which gives 
the glazed coating to the plants, and gives strength to the stalk. 

"The superiority of sand in giving a high temjierature to the soil, is a great 
advantage in a climate in which the limited period of vegetation requu-es the 
highest measures of heat." 

This species of soil, on account of its penetrability to a great distance, by the 
roots of plants, enables them to gather nutriment at a greater distance from 
the stalk. It is porous, and permits free respiration of the soil, — as important 
to plants as animals. Owing to capilary attraction, it easily imbibes moisture 
from the air, and retains it a long time, enabling it to support vegetation during 
drouths, that in less favored localities prove disastrous to crops. The same 
quality prevents it from becoming supersaturated with water during wet seasons, 
on account of the facility with which it drains. 

There is also this further advantage of sandy soils, that the roads are smooth 
and hard, easily made and kept in order, and are free from mire and mud, thus 
facilitating travel, hauling, &c., as well as farm labor generally. 

"Another imjiortant feature of the soil of Minnesota is, that its earthy mate- 
rials are minutely pulverized, and the soil is everywhere light, mellow and 
spongy, existing naturally in the condition reached in soils less favorably con- 
stituted, by expensive under- drainage. With, these uniform characteristics, the 
soils of Minnesota are of different grades of fertility, according to local situa- 
tions, or the character of the underlying rocks from which their elements have 
been derived. Distributed according to geological situations, the soils of the 
agricultural district of Minnesota may be divided into limestone soils, diift soils, 
clay soils, and trap soils." 

Products of the Soil. — The following table shows the staple agricultural pro- 
ducts of Minnesota, and about the average yield per acre : — 

Crops, Av. No. bushels per acre. Crops. Av. No. bushels per acre. 

Wheat, .... 20.05 Sweet potatoes, - - - 100.00 

Rye, .... 21.56 Beans, - - - - 15.00 

Barley, .... 33.23 Hemp lint, (pounds,) - - 1,140.00 

Oats, .... 42.39 Flax lint, " - 750.00 

Buckwheat, - - - 20.00 Sorghum, (gallons syrup) 100.00 

Corn, .... 35.67 Hay, (tons) - - - 2.12 

Potatoes, .... 20b. 00 

The above table has been compiled with some care from various 
sources, and gives only the average yield of the crops mentioned, and may be 
taken as a fair sample of the average for the State at large, one year with another. 
It must be understood, however, that on the prevailing soil of Minnesota, with 
manuring and careful cultivation, the actual yield is often nearly double the above 
figures. Potatoes, for instance, set down at 208, on good soil, and ordinary culti- 
vation, will easily yield 300 bushels per acre ; wheat 35, corn 40, and other crops 
in proportion. In 1865, from 400,000 acres of wheat in Minnesota there was 
hai'vested the enormous crop of 10,000,000 bushels, being an average yield of 25 
bushels to the acre. The crop of 1868 has been estimated by Mr. Pusey, 
Assistant Secretary of State, at 16,125,875 bushels, from very imperfect data, 
and I feel certain his desire to be safe made his estimate one million too low. 

Wlieat is one of the chief staples of agriculture in Minnesota, and is compara- 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 23 

lively exempt from the dangers to which it is exposed in other States, — drouth, 
rust, tmut, insects, &c. The averag-e per rentage of the tilled area of the State in 
wheat is over 53 per cent, nearly double that of Ohio, which is 33, or Illinois, 
which is 28, from the fact that iu those States the uncertainty of the crop, from 
the above causes, renders it unsafe to venture so large a proportion of the crop 
upon so precarious a product. In Minnesota the whest crop is regarded as a 
sure and safe one, and rarely fails of a fine yield. The farmer sows with an as- 
surance of reaping a good return, which he could feel in no other State, except 
perhaps Wisconsin and Northwestern Michigan, which belong to the same great 
wheat belt as Minnesota. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER STATES. 

The wheat crop of Minnesota is not only more certain than that of Ohio, 
Illinois, Iowa, and other great wheat growing States, but the yield is greater 
than the best of them. The average wheat-yield of Minnesota has been put 
down at 20 bushels to the acre : in some counties, the yield was 25. The aver- 
age wheat-yield of the rich prairies of Illinois, owing to uncertainty of the crop 
perhaps, was stated as not over 8 bushels per acre, by Abraham Lincoln, in an 
address before the Wisconsin State Fair of 1859. The average yield of Iowa 
is not over 12 bushels ; that of Ohio and Pennsylvania will not exceed 10. The 
average yield of Iowa in 1859, was 4 bushels ; that of Minnesota for the same 
year was 19. In 1850, the four States producing the largest average yield, were 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida ; this did not exceed 15 bushels, 
while the other States averaged only from 5 to 12. The largest known yield of 
other States, as compared with the average of Minnesota, is as follows : 

Tear. Bush, per acre. Tear. Bush, peracre. 

Minnesota, - - - 1860 22 Michigan, - - - 1848 19 

Ohio, 1850 17.3 Massachusetts, - - 1849 16 

In the face of these facts, we need have no hesitancy in pronouncing Minne- 
sota the banner wheat State of the Union. Spring wheat is principally sown 
but winter wheat does equally well, I believe. 

Co7ii. — Many newspapers in States south of us have asserted that Minnesota 
is too cold for corn. But this is not so ; though not so much of a staple pro- 
duct as wheat, corn grows well in Minnesota^ and the yield compares favorably 
with that of the best corn States. When stock, especially hogs, are raised to a 
greater extent than at present in the State, the corn crop must eventually become 
an important one to our farmers. The average corn yield of Minnesota in 1859, 
a bad year, was 26 bushels ; I860, 35| ; 1865. 43 J ; the average may be set 
down at 35 bushels per acre ; that of Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky at 20 ; that 
of Iowa, just south of us, 23. The average yield in 1859, was 26 bushels, 11 
per cent, higher than that of Iowa for the same year. 

In 18G0 our average, as shown by the census record, was greater than any 
Middle or Northwestern State except Ohio, and the yield of 1868 will be found 
equally satisfactory. 

"This strikingly confirms the law already noticed, that the cultivated plants 
yield their greatest products near the northernmost limits of their respective 
growth." 

Oats. — The superiority of our climate and soil in the production of the 
cereals is nowhere more strikingly manifested than in the inferior classes of these 
grains." In 1859, the average yield of this crop was 33 bushels to the acre ; 
in 1860, it was 42 ; iu 1865, the yield was 51 J bushels. I have no means of 
comparing these results with the yield of other States, but doubt not but that the 
comparison would be a favorable as that of wheat and corn. 

Rye, Barley and Bvcktvheat, like the other small grains, do exceedingly well 
in Minnesota. Mr. AVheelock in the valuable Report referred to, says : 
"The climatic influences which give the wheat of Minnesota its recognized 
superiority of grain, are especially marked in the quality of our barley. This is 
beginning to be so generally recognized, that it is already exported in consider- 



24 MINNESOTA : 

able quantities to supply breweries in the MiJUe States." The average yield per 
acre of these grains for three years were as follows : 

1859. 1S60. 1S62. 1S66. 

Rye, .... 19.4 21.56 24.00 

Barley, .... 29.1 33.23 34.00 37.50 
Buckwheat, ... 6.5 1.1.73 26.0G 

Potatoes. — "The superior flavor and the rich farinaceous quality of the pota- 
toes of Minnesota, afford an apt illustration of the principle maintained by I'r. 
Forry, that the cultivated plants come to perfection only near the nothern limits 
of their growth. In the south, the potatoe, in common with other tuberous and 
bulbous plants, with beets, turnips, and other garden roots, is scarcely fit for 
human food. 'A forcing sun,' says Dr. Forry, ' brings the potatoe to fructifica- 
tion before the roots have had time to attain their proper size, or ripen into the 
qualities proper for nourishment.' Minnesota, at the west, reproduces the best 
northern samples of this delicious esculent, in characteri.stic perfection. From 
their farina and flavor, the potatoes of \Hunesota are already held in considerable 
esteem as a table delicacy in the States below us, and a market is rapidly grow- 
ing up for them throughout the States of the Mississippi Valley, as is indicated 
by inereasiiag exports." — J. A. ffheelock. 

Sorghum. — But little attention has been paid to this crop in Minnesota. It 
is evidently adapted to a warmer climate, but planted early, on our rich soil, it 
will gi'ow and produce equal to any place in the world. The average yield from 
very imperfect returns, has been set at down 72^ gallons ; but "some instances 
are reported where a product of 200 and even 300 gallons has been obtained 
from one acre," says Mr. Wheelock : and there is no doubt but that the average 
yield maybe safely estimated at from 100 to 150 gallons per acre. 

Maple Sugar. — The sugar maple is found plentifully in the timbered part of 
the State. A product of 370,947 pounds of maple sugar, wits reported for 1860. 

Hay. — Timothy and clover flourish in Minnesota ; in fact, white clover, red 
top, and blue grass seem indigenous to the soil, and speedily cover any land 
pastured much. The tame grasses are but little cultivated on this account ; the 
luxuriant growth of the native grasses, which cover the "immense surface of 
natural meadow laud formed by the alluvial bottoms of the intricate network of 
streams which every where intersect the country," and which "are as rich and 
nutricious in this latitude as the best exotic varieties," render cultivation unne- 
cessary. The average yield of these grasses is 2.12 tons per acre, 60 per cent, 
greater than that of the great hay State of Ohio, which, according to the Com- 
missioner of Statistics of that State, is 1^ tons per acre. 

The lint plants. Flax, Hemp, ^-c, as they come to perfection only in a cool 
elimate, do extremely well in Minnesota. Their bark, in southern climates, is 
harsh and brittle, because the plant is forced into maturity so rapidly that the 
lint does not acquire either consistency or tenacity. Minnesota is equal for flax 
and hemp growth to Northern Europe. 

Onions, Turnips, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets, and nearly all bulbous plants, do 
equally as well as the potatoe. 

Sweet Potatoes. — Our loamy, warm sandy soil is just the thing for it, but our 
seasons are rather short ; planted early however, it yields a good crop. 

Turnips, Rutabagoes, and Beets often attain a great size. 

7^e Salad Plants. — Cabbages, lettuces, endive, celery, spinach — plants whose 
leaves only are eaten — are not only more tender here than in warm climates, 
where the relaxing sun lays open their very buds, and renders their leaves thin 
and tough, but are more nutricious, because their growth is slow and their 
juices well digested. 

Melons, although they come in rather late, instead of throwing too much of 
their gi'owth into the vine, as they do south, attain a large size, and a rich sac- 
chai'ine and aromatic flavor. This is especially true of the cantelope melon, 
which in wai-mer climates has its sides baked or rots before it is fully matured. 

Pumpkins, Squash, ^c, on the same principle, fully mature, and grow very 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 25 

fiue aud large. The Hubbard vai-iety requires early planting, say first of May. 
Beans, Peas, <^'C., of every variety, are fine and prolific. Rhubarb, or Fie 
Plant, flourishes without cul'tivatiou. 

The Hop Culture does not pay at present prices. 

Perhaps in no State iu the Union does the soil so surely aud amply reward la- 
bor, or yield larger products for the amount of labor bestowed on it. It is easily 
cleared of weeds, and ouce clean, its warm forcing nature enables the crop to 
speedily outstrip all noxious growths. Two good thorough workings usually in- 
sures a good growth of almost any cultivated crop. 

BEES — A CORPwECTIOX. 

In my pamphlet issued January, 1867, the Bee business was spoken of as pay- 
ing well in Minnesota. That year did not sustaiu the statement, and iu the 
1868 issue, Bees were omitted. Now, in January, 1S69, all testify to the payiug 
results of the Bee business last year, aud if not pressed for room I would re- 
store the 1667 article. 

FRUITS. 

The year 1863 has more than confirmed all that has heretofore been stated in 
this pamphlet as to fruit growing. With the progress now making here in 
grape culture, Minnesota will soon do her share toward producing the pure 
wines that are to drive from us the mixed and poisonous driuks now in use. 

Apples, ^c. — An impression seems to prevail abroad that we cannot raise 
fruit in Minnesota, — "an extraordinary inference," says Wheelock, ''when we 
consider that many forms of wild fruit are indigenous to the country." Our cli- 
mate is evidently not so well adapted to fruit-raisingasthat of some other States 
south of us. Still, sufficient of most kinds may be raised to supply the home 
demand. It has been demonstrated that many varieties of apples do vvell here, 
aud there are now several bearing orchards in the vicinity of Minneapolis, Wi- 
nona, St. Paul, Red Wing, Owatona, Rochester, Mankato, aud other portions of 
the State. The specimens of Minnesota apples at the State fair of 1866, were 
equal in size and flavor to the same varieties elsewhere produced. It is not the 
severity of the winter that kills the tree, but the alternate thawing and freezing 
of the south side of the tree in the spring, which is avoided by mulching, and 
protecting the stem of the ti-ee when voung, by a wrapping of straw. The State 
being new, time sufficient for planting aud acclimating orchards, has not elapsed; 
but there is u» longer any doubt of our ability to raise fiue apple orchards. 
Dwarf cherry and peach trees, which are easily protected in winter, do well, but 
the larger varieties are too tender. However, cherries may yet succeed, as the 
wild variety is a native of the soil. Apples grow well in Wisconsin, right along 
side of us ; in Canada and New-England, north of us. The inference is clear 
that by procuring our trees north of us, (not south, as has heretofore been the 
practice) or planting the seeds and thus acclimating them, or by gntftvig on to 
the stock of the Siberian crab, which is remarkably healthy and hardy, and flour- 
ishes here through the coldest winters without protenion, we may raise all the 
apples we wish. There are several flourishing nurseries near Winona, Red 
Wing, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Austin, Rochester, Faribault, Mankato, and other 
portions of tlie State. The exhibition at the Stixte Fair, Ist October, 1868, was a 
gratifying surprise. 

Crab Apples. — The wild crab apple tree is indigenous to the soil, improves 
much by cultivation, aud furnishes an excellent stock for grafting, but inferior to 
the Siberian Crab, which is equally hai'dy, and furnishes an excellent apple for 
preserving. Some varieties approach a hen's (^<^g in size, and are quite palatable. 

Slraivberries. — Every variety of this excellent fruit does well here, attaining 
a size and flavor unsurpassed. Wild ones fill the woods and prpiries every year. 

Grapes. — The different varieties succeed well here, aud several varieties of the 
wild grape vine grow luxuriantly all over the State. The cultivated varieties, 
while young, require to be laid down in the fdl, and protected by a light cover- 
ing of straw. The nature of our climate aud soil would seem to designate Min- 



•26 • jirNNESOTA : 

nesota as a great grape-growing State. The juices of the grape, says Dr. Fer- 
ry, are best matured for M-ine near the northern limit of their growth. On the 
Ehine, in Hungary, the sides of the Alps, and other elevated or northern situa- 
tions, the vine is strongest, richest, and most esteemed. The grapes of Frarce 
are more delicious for the table than those of Spain or Madeira, south of it. 
The excess of heat and moisture in the States south and east of us, blights 
the grape to such an extent that its culture has been abandoned. The vice, 
however, whether wild or cultivated, grows there luxuriantly. The vinous fer- 
mentation, as well as the pressing and distillation of the juice, can also be best 
conducted ila a climate comparatively cool. 

Truman M. Smith, Esq., of the " St. Paul Gardens and Nursery," ha.s suc- 
ceeded well in a large variety of fruit. He writes me: — "Grapes have always 
done well with me. I have not in any year failed to have my grapes thoroughly 
ripe before frost; and in 1867, the coldest one on record, I ripened twenty-seven 
varieties, and have now, on this 20th of January, ' Delawares ' in good condition, 
by hanging them up in a cool, dry cellar." 

Gooseberries, Currants, and ^as|>ifr/-«>s, are cultivated extensively through- 
out the State, unsurpassed in flavor, size, and productiveness. They also grow 
wild, in common with blueberries, whortleberries, and both mai-sh and upright 
cranberries. 

Wildfhnns, of a great many different varieties, some of them very large and 
fine, approximating the peach for domestic purposes, abound in the neighbor- 
hood of streams, lakes, and moist localities. They improve so much by being 
transplanted and cultivated as to equal any of the tame vai'ieties. Wild chet > ies 
ai-e also plenty. 

From this list it is apparent that Miunesotiaus are not likely to suffer fo the 
want of fruit. And it may be remarked of all fruits generally grown m Minue- 
sota, that, owing to the principle announced by Dr. Forry, they attain a perfec- 
tion found only at the northernmost limit of their growth. The pulp is delicate, 
saccharine, and of a rich flavor, while they are free from the larvee, gum, knots, 
atd acerbity of fruit grown further south. The dryness of the atmosphere, as 
well as the inherent perfection of the fruit, enables us to preserve it for a much 
longer time than can be done in warmer localities. Apples keep much better 
than in St. Louis or Cincinnati. 

THE GEOWIXG SEASON UN" MINNESOTA. 

In Minnesota, during the growing season, we find all those conditions most 
favorable to agriculture present in a marked degi-ee. Its mean spring tempera- 
ture is 45.6 degrees, which is the same as that of Central Wisconsin, Northern 
lUiuois, IS orthern Ohio, Central and Southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 2i 
degrees south of it. Its summer temperature is 70.6 degrees, corresponding 
with that of Middle Illinois and Ohio, Southern Pennsylvania, Long Island and 
New Jersey, 5 degrees south of it 

The season of vegetation in Minnesota, in common with that of the upper belt 
of the temperate zone, is embraced between the first of April and the first of 
October. Some idea of the average temperature of this period may be obtained, 
by comparing it with the same period in other localities, whose agricultural capa- 
cities are well known : 

St. Paul, Minn. 
Marietta, 0., 
Chicago, 111., 
Boston, Mass., 

It will be observed that the temperature of the growing mouths in the above 
places is so nearly the same, that the difference can be scarcely appreciable * 

*"Minnesota, ficm its high ncrtheni positun, has always had to maintain a certain struggle for 
a just 11] prcciaticn against the ignorant pifcoccei^tioES of tht majority of ptcple of our days, who 
were educated in the Dcticn that latitude governs climate. It is Oiflicult to make the New H<.mp. 
shire farmer comipiehend that St. Anthony Falls, in the latitude of Hanover, has the sun.mer climate 
of Philadelphia— or that wheat, which will scarcely grow in nortbern New England, thrivee on the 



April. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


August. 


Sept. 


46.3 


69.0 


68.4 


73.4 


70.1 


58.9 


52.3 


61.4 


69.6 


73.5 


70.7 


63.6 


46.0 


56.3 


62.7 


70.7 


68.5 


60.1 


45.57 


57.04 


65.57 


71.08 


69.10 


62.78 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 27 

"Tlie April of Minnesota is ntill the April of England, but her May corresponds 
in temperature with tlie English June." 

The sprint^ temperature of Ohio, it will be noticed, is greater than that of 
Minnesota, while its summer temperature is less. The coolness of the Minnesota 
spring, and the rapid increase in temp'^'rature as summer approaches, is claimed 
as a great advantage, and on this fact the prelection of its grains and other agri- 
cultural products in a gieat measure depends. The fact anounced by Dr. Forrey, 
"that the cultivated plants yiekl the greatest pri>ducts near the northernmost 
limits at which they will grow," is explained on the principle that the cool spring 
restrains the growth of the trunk and foliage of the plant, and throws the full 
development into the ripening period. "The very warm southern spring devel- 
ops the juices of the plant too rapidly. They run into the stalk, blade, and 
leaf, to the neglect of the .-^eed, and dry away before the fructification becomes 
complete. Our cooler springs reverse this process, restrain the undue luxuriance 
of the stem and leaf, and concentrate the juices in the development of the fruit 
and seed." 

The cereals all attain their most perfect development in northern climates. 
Potatoes and other cultivated roots follow the same law The perfection and 
strength of the grasses in cool and northern regions, and their power of keeping 
horses and cattle fat without grain, is proverbial. Although the grasses attain 
sufficient size south, they are forced to a rapid fructification before they have 
time to elaborate their juices, and consequently contain but a small proportion 
of nutriment. These facts depend upon the same general law. At the same 
time, the products of grain, flour, &c., are manufactured to better advantage in a 
cold climate, as they are preserved from sourness, mustiness, &c., a longer 
time.* 

Period of Exemption from Frost. — The period of total etemption from 
frost in Minnesota, varies from four to five and a half months, which allows 
ample time for the perfection of all the annual crops. The frost is general- 
ly entirely out of the ground, which is then ready for planting, the last of April 
and first of May. The first fall of frost takes place with great regularity about 
the middle of Septemlier, though sometimes delayed till the middle of October. 
Minnesota is not exposed to late and early frosts more than the Middle and West- 
ern States. The peculiar dryness of the air also enables vegetation to resist 
light frosts, which in other localities would prove disastrous. This fact is exem- 
plified by the frost of June 4th, 1859, which Wiis general nearly all over the 
United States. In Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was universally destructive ; 
ice formed one-third inch thick in Ohio ; but in Minnesota no damage whatever 
was done to field crops. On account of this dryness, the temperature may fall 
considerably below the freezing point at times, without producing frost The 
dryness of the atmosphere, notwithstanding the abundance of the summer rains, 
is also very im])ortant on account of the protection it gives wheat and oats from 
rust, smut, and insects, which often seriously injure the wheat fields of moister 
climates. 

Advantageous Distribution of Rain. — The mean annual fall of rain in Min- 
nesota, as set down in Blodget's hyetal charts, is twenty-five inches. It is a 
remarkable fact that the greater part of this moisture is deposited during the 
six growing mouths, when it is most needed, instead of being wasted in delug- 
ing the laud and making winter disagreeable, as in Xew England and the West- 
ern and Middle States. The following, from the report of the Commissioner of 

60th parallel, a thousand miles north of St. Paul. One of the most curious consequences of this ab- 
rupt northero deflection of the isothermal lines around the head of the great lake basins, is that St. 
Paul, in latitude 4.t, is very considerably warmer during the whole six months of the growing season, 
than Chicago, in latitude 42. 

"It is not a little amusing, upon this showing, to read in the official report of the Illinois Central 
Company, and in the Cliicago Democrat, that "every spring brings down the frostbitten and chilled 
Inhabitants of Minnesota, to the mild and genial clime of Illinois." — Report of Commissioner of 
Statistics. 

■"♦See an article on the "Acclimating Principle of Plants," In the American Journal of Geology, by 
Sr. Forry. 



Minn. 


Uls. 


Pa, 


Mass. 


19.55 


26.30 


20.94 


23.1,5 


5.88 


15,50 


21.40 


23.81 


11.00 


13.20 


11.93 


10.71 


1.92 


7.10 


10.76 


11.85 



28 jnxNESOTA : 

Statistics, shows the contrast between Minnesota and the above .States, in this 
respect : 

The six warm and growina: months, 
The six cold and non-producing months. 
The three summer months. 
The three winter mouths, 

"Now, all the points here brought into comparison have a greater rain fall ia 
the whole growing season than Minnesota ; but the summer fall is nearly the 
same, their superfluous spring and autumn rains, which are unnecessary and evea 
injurious to vegetation, making up the difference in the whole quantity for the 
warm months." 

The excessive autumnal rains in the above States are often very destnictive to 
harvests. " The Minnesota farmer reaps as he sows, in the full confidence that 
no untimely tempest will defraud him of the fruits of his labors. In these wet 
climates, in the reeking summer air, agriculture is a perpetual vigil against co".:- 
cealed enemies." 

CHEAPXESS OP OPEXrXG FARMS. 

It is a fact worthy of note, that in all places whose growth is unsubstantial, 
the price of laud is disproportionately high, while its products are low. But 
in Minnesota, real estate is low, land is extremely cheap, (owing to the large 
surplus yet unoccupied,) while its products command the first prices. Oats, 
corn, potatoes, and in fact nearly all that the farmer raises, find a ready market for 
cash at home. A curious illustration of the practical working of this principle 
is that lauds purchased at ten dollars per acre are paid for out of the proceeds 
of the first crop. Take this instance : A gentleman having a farm for sale, 
offered it, with improvements, for $9 per acre. Failing to sell, he leased it, 
receiving one-third of the crop. His third netted him more than he would have 
realized from the sale of the land. Many such instances could be given. This 
illustrates what bargains may be secured where lauds are cheap and the products 
of the soil high. It is but fair to state that the price of wheat this 2oth Janu- 
ary, 1869, will not produce such results. 

A man with a small, but high priced farm in the old States can dispose of it 
for sufBcient to set himself up well in Minnesota, and procure a farm for each of 
his children besides ; and these farms in a few years will be as valuable as the 
one in the old State is now. The fortunes made by farmers here within a few 
years, would scarcely be credited in the older States. 

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

This efiBcient organization has contributed largely to the advancement of every 
thing pertaining to farming, stock raising and the other varied interests of 
our young State. The annual State Fair each year increases in extent of the 
exibitions — the numbers in attendance, and the disposition manifested on the 
part of our people to not be behind any body or any State in this respect. Gen. 
Alexander Chambers of Owatouna, Ls President, and Hon. Charles H. Clark of 
JMianeapolis, Secretary. 



THE CLIMATE OF MTXJ^SOTA.- 

UNPARALLELED HEALTHFULNESS — EXEMPTION FROM PULMONARY AND MALARIOUS 
DISEASES— ^CAUSES OF ITS SALUBRITY — DRYNESS AND PURITY OP THE AIR — 
TEMPERATURE AS COMPARED WITH OTHER STATES — AS A RESORT FOR INVALIDS, 
AC, &C. 

The assertion that the climate of Minnesota is one of the healthiest in the 
world, may be broadly and confidently made. It is sustained by the almost 
unanimous testimony of the thow-auds of invalids who have sought its pure and 
bracing air, and recovered from consumption and other diseases ai'ter they had been 



ITS ADVAJfTAGES TO SETTLERS. 29 

given up as hopeless by their home physicians ; it is sustained by the experience 
of its inhabitants for twenty years ; and it is sustained by the published statis- 
tics of mortality in the dillerent States. The eminent Dr. Horace Biishnell, of 
Hartford, Conn., after spending a year in Cuba and another in California, with- 
out any permanent benefit, spent a year in Minnesota, and recovered. After 
returning East and submitting tu a rigid examination, his physicians said : " Von 
have had a difficulty in the right lung, but it is healed." In a published letter 
he says :— "I have kuowTi of veiy remarkable cases of recovery there which had 
eeemed to be hopeless. One, of a gentleman who was carried ashore on a litter, 
and became a hearty, robust man. Another who told me he had even coughed 
up bits of his lung of the size of a walnut, was then, seven or eight months 
after, a perfectly sound-looking, well-set man, with no cough at all. I fell in 
with somebody every few days who had come there and been restored ; and with 
multitudes of othei-s whose disease has been arrested, so as to allow the prose- 
cution of business, and whose lease of life, as they had no doubt, was much 
lengthened by their migration to that region of the country." 

Many of our most prominent business men, whom no one would now take for 
invalids, belong to the above class. Almost any one who has resided here for 
any length of time can refer to numbers, now enjoying ordinary health, who on 
first coming here were considered hopelessly gone with consumption, or other 
chronic disease. It is believed consumption is never generated hin-e, which is a 
Btrong proof that the climate is a favorable one for those afhicted with the disease. 

Minnesota is entirely exempt from malaria, and consequently the numerous 
diseases known to arise from it, such as chiUs and fever, autumnal fevers, ague 
cate or enlarged spleen, enlargement of the liver, <S:c., dropsy, diseases of "the 
kidneys, aflections of the eye, and various billious diseases, and derangements of 
the stomach and bowels, although sometimes arising from other causes, are often 
due wholly to malarious agency, and are only temporarily relieved by medicine, 
because the patient is constantly exposed to the malarious influence which gen- 
erates them. Enlargement of the liver and spleen is veiy common in Southern 
and Southwestern States. We are not only free from those ailments, but by com- 
ing to Minnesota, often without any medical treatment at all, patients speedily 
recover from this class of diseases ; the miasmatic poison being soon eliaiinated 
from the system, and not being exposed to its farther inception, the functions of 
healtli are gradually resumed. 

Diarrhea and dysentery are not so prevalent as in warmer latitudes, and are of 
a milder tj'pe. Pneumonia and typhoid fever are very seldom met with, and 
then merely as sporadic cases. 

Diseases of an epidemic character never have been known to prevail here. 
'• Even that dreadful scourge, diptheria, which like a desti-oying angel, swept 
through portions of the country, leaving desolation in its train, passed us by 
with scarce a grave to mark its course. The diseases common tu infancy and 
childhood, partake of the same mild character, and seldom prove fatal." This is 
the language of Mrs. Colburu, an authoress, and the experience of physiciaui; 
corroborates this opinion. 

That dreadful scourge of the human family, the cholera, is alike unknown 
here. During the summer of 1866, while hundreds were daily cut down by this 
visitation in Xew York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places, and it prevailed 
to an alarming extent in Chicago, —not a single case made its apjjearanee 
in Minnesota. 

Another, and a very large class of invalids, which derive great benefit from 
the climate of Minnesota, are those whose systems have become rela.'ied, debili- 
tated, and broken down, by over-taxation of the mentaJ and physical energies, 
dyspepsia, &c. 

And these facts, establishing as they do the remarkable salubrity of our cli- 
mate, are borne out by statistics. The following table is copied from the Uni- 
ted States census of 1860. The percenttxg-e ' colunm exhibits the number of 
deaths in every lOO |>ersons ; the last column shows the number, iu each State, 
out of which one person has died : 



30 



MTNTSTESOTA 





Popula- 
tion. 


Deaths. 


S> (U 






Popula- 
tion. 


Deaths. 


a . 
a bc 


si 








CM 


o 
T5 








CM 


c 


Alabama, 


964,201 


12,760 


1.32 


Missouri, 


1,182,012 


17,557 


1.48 


67 


Arkansas, 


435,450 


8,860 


2.03 


49 


New Hampshire, 


326,073 


4,469 


1.37 


72 


California, 


379,994 


3,705 


.97 


102 


: New Jersey, 


672,035 


7,525 


1.11 


89 


Connecticut, 


400, 147 


6,13S 


1.33 


74; 


New York, - 


3,880,735 


46,881 


1.20 


82 


Delaware, 


112,216 


1,346 


1. 11 


90 


North Carolina, 


992,622 


12,607 


1.27 


78 


Florida, 


144,435 


1,769 


1.25 


79 i 


Ohio, 


2,8.39,511 


24,724 


1.05 


94 


Georgia, - 


1,057,286 


12,807 


1.21 


82 j 


Oregon, - 


52,465 


251 


.47 


209 


Illinois, 


1,711,951 


19,263 


1.12 


88 1 


Pennsylvania, - 


2,906,115 


30,214 


1.03 


96 


Iowa, 


674,913 


7,260 


1.C7 


93; 


Rhode Island, 


174,620 


2,479 


1.41 


70 


Indiana, 


1,350,438 


15,205 


1.12 


88: 


South Carolina, 


708,708 


9,745 


1.3S 


72 


Kansas, - 


107,806 


1,443 1.34 


74 


Tennessee, 


1,109,801 


15,176 


1.36 


73 


Kentucky, - 


1,155,634 


16,467 1.44 


70' 


Texas, - 


604,215 


9,369 


1 55 


64 


Louisiana, 


708,002 


12,329 1.74 


57' 


Vermont, - 


815,098 


3,355 


1.06 


93 


Maine, - 


628,379 


7,6U 1.21 


82, 


Virginia, 


1,596,318 


22,474 


1 40 


71 


Maryland, 


087,049 


7,370 1.07 


93 


Wisconsin, 


775,831 


7,129 


.92 


108 


Massachusetts, 


1,231,063 


21,304 1.73 


57 


Dist. of Columbia, 


75,080 


1,275 


1.69 


58 


JMichigan, 


749,113 


7,399' 98 


101 


Nebraska, - 


28,841 


381 


1..32 


75 


Minnesota, - 


172,123 


1,109: 64 


155 


New Mexico, 


93,516 


1,305 


1.39 


71 


Mississippi, 


791,305 


12,214,1.54 


64; 


Utah, 


40,273 


374 


.92 


107 



It will be observed that Minnesota has the smallest mortality of any State in 
the Union, except Oregon. Oregon, though a very healthy clime, is not a resort 
for invalids. Lying on the Pacific coast, its climate, like that of New England, 
is too humid to attract invalids. On the contrary, iVlinuesota is a great resort 
for consumptive invalids, and those laboring under various chronic diseases. 
Of course, some come too late, and die here — pi'ob ably living a year or so 
longer than they would at home. This swells our mortality list, and taking it 
out, Minnesota would hold a higher place than even Oregon. 

Many letters are received asking what portion of the State is best for invalids. 
My uniform answer is that there is no difference. Persons seek all parts of the 
State for health, and I have never heard our people claim any advantage for one 
part over another. The burial record for the city of St. Paul are required by 
law to be kept with much care. There were in the year 1868, according to the 
report of Dr. Mattocks, health officer, 243 deaths, 8 accidental, 15 still born, 
total 266, in a population of over 20,000. Any other city oi- town of the State 
would show as well if records were kept. The St. Paul Pioneer, on this sub- 
ject said : — •' When we consider that our city is a hospital for invalids, even these 
figures rob it of its real meed of praise. A very large proportion of the per- 
sons dying in this city are strangers, who have come here sick and almost dying, 
to receive the benefits of our salubrious climate, but only to linger a few months 
and then cease the struggle. The city is constantly filled with them in all stages 
of disease. Excluding these (and they should be excluded) from our table of 
mortality, and counting only the deaths in our regular residents, would reduce 
the deaths to h ss than 1 per cent, of the populatioa." 

CAUSES OF TPIE HEALTHEULN^ESS OE MENT^SOTA. 

However interesting it might be to go into a scientific exposition of the 
causes and theories of the exemption of Minnesota from many of the diseases 
which annually carry off thousands in the older States of America and Europe, 
space will not permit, and I must confirne myself to such facts as are already es- 
tablished beyond cavil or dispute. 

Absence of Malaria. — A large proportion of the diseases which afilict man- 
kind have their origin in the poisonous and unhealthy emanations which arise 
from the earth. These emanations embody a subtle principle termed malaria, 
which is constantly rising, like an imperceptible gas, poisoning the air, and gen- 
erating disease, chills and fever, difierent kinds of fever, pneumonia, diarrhea, 
dysentery, debility, biliousness, diseases of the liver, spleen, kidneys, &c. The 
low temperature of our winters, continniug as they do for four months, effectually 



ITS ADYANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 31 

destroys any malaria that might lurk in the soil, ready to spring forth in warm 
weather. • 

"VVe are thus entirely free from malaria, aurl the far:t is well established that 
chills and fever, and diseases generally, of a malarious origin, are entirely un- 
known in Minnesota, and those who come here suffering these ailments speedily 
recover. 

Perturbation of the Air. — The atmosphere, like large bodies of water, re- 
quires perturbation to preserve its purity ; otherwise it becomes heavy and 
stagnant, loaded with impurities and unhealthy, depressing the spirits by its mo- 
notony, and inducing a tor])id condition of the whole system. The waters of 
the ocean, and of large lakes, are kept pure by the agitation of the winds and 
tides. All healthy countries are windy, but all windy countries are not healthy. 
"Winds blowing fur many days in succession from one quarter, become pregnant 
with moisture and other impurities. The winds iu Minnesota are not persistent 
and severe, but constitute rather a lively agitation of the air, which constantly 
changes it, carrying off noxious vapors and effluvia, conducing to its clearness 
and purity, and imparting to it those qualities which give tone to the system 
and invigorate the nutritive functions. 

The prevailing direction of our winds is from the south, according to obser- 
vations, extending over twelve years, recorded iu the U. S. Army meteorologi- 
cal register. "This fact,'' says Mr. Wheelock, " goes far toward accounting for 
the exceptional warmth of the spring and summer months in Minnesota, and 
serves to show that the direction of currents of air exerts an influence only less 
than the position in latitude iu forming the measure of heat and cold." Our 
winds, instead of passing over the ocean, lad^^u, like those dreaded "east winds" 
of New England and the Atlantic coast generally, with saline moisture, come to 
us only after traversing half a continent of land, pure and invigorating. 

A comparison of the mean force of the wind for ten years, at different places, 
gives the following result : Fort Suelling, Minnesota, 1.87 ; New London, Con- 
necticut, 2.G7 ; New York city, 2.96 ; Eastport. Maine, 2.63 ; Poitsmouth, 
N. H., 2.50; Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. 2.20; Detroit, Michigan, 2.26; Foil 
Atkinson, Iowa, 2.48 ; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2.09. We thus perceive that 
the menu force of the wind in Minnesota is less than at either of the other places, 
representing, as they do, all sections of the Union except the Soutli, and con- 
firms the statement previously made, that our winds are lively agitations of the 
air, rather than strong, continuous currents. As a consequence, the snows drift 
less than in the East, and usually lie without material disturbance. 

The following table, from the report of the Commissioner of Statistics, gives 
a synopsis of the climate of Minnesota for the whole year, from which it will be 
seen that a more perfect hanuony between the three great fundamental condi- 
tions of climate than is here di^iplayed, could be found no where on earth : 





i-> 


S^ 


« 


< 


*^ 


>^ 


■-J 


< 


OQ O Z p 


Mean Temp'ture— dega. 


13. T 


17.6 


31.4 


46.3 


50.0 


RS.4 


73.4 


70.1 


■)S.9 47.1 81.7 16.9 


Rain — inches, - • - 


O.T 


0.5 


1.3 


2.1 


3 2 


3.6 


4.1 


3.2 


3.3 1.4 1.3 0.7 


Prevailing Winds- 


N.E. 


N.W. 


N.W. 


N.W. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. 


S.E. N. N.E. 


Courses, . . - . 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 8 to to 




N W. 


s.w. 


S.W. 


S.w. 


S.W. 


S.w. 


S.W. 


S.W. 


S.W. N.W. N.W.. 



Dryness of the Air. — Another great cause of the salubrity of our climate is 
the marked dryness of the air. Moisture is a powerful agent in generating dis- 
ease. It is the main vehicle of malaria and other atmospheric poisons. They 
cling to it, or it holds them in solution. It is through the watery vapor of the 
atmosijhore that most morbific agents reach the human body. While an atmos- 
phere which is too dry, like that of arid plains and sandy deserts, is unhealthy, 
engendering over-action, fever, and debility, tliat which contains an excess of 
moisture is still more so. A humid climate rapidly abstracts the natural warmth 
of the body, and lowers the vitality of the system, producing feeble action and 
poor nutrition as a consequence, thus rendering the system open to attacks of 
inflammations, colds, coughs and consumptiou, as well as neuralgic and rhuematic 



32 MINNESOTA : 

affeetioDS. Cold, however intense, is not so perceptible if the air is dry. For 
example : wet one hand ; hold it and the dry one in tHe cold for a few%inutes. 
A damp air penetrates and chills, drives the blood iuvrards, and shrinks and 
wrinkles up the skin. A cold, dry air, like ours, is tonic, exhilarating, and 
strengthening. It has not the feverish heat of the desert, nor yet the humid 
chilliness of the coast. This dryness further conduces to its furity. It is pure 
air, such as God intended to be breathed, oxygenating a;Kl purifyinc' the blood, 
and exerting a tonic influence on the whole organism. It is free from the thou- 
sand and one impurities held in suspension by the excess of moisture pi'evalent 
in the wet climates of southern and western States, and in Xew England. It is 
full of electricity, and rich in the life-giving principle termed ozone, never found 
in impure air. 

Temperature of Mixxesota — Compared with other States — Errors repeci- 
ins: our Winters — Secret of the Salitb)ity of our Climate. — The popular im- 
pression that the further north you go the colder it getfi, is an erroneous one. 
The rule is open to many exceptions. The configuration of the earth is such; 
that owing to mountain ranges, vast sandy plain.?, large inland bodies of water. 
kc, the isothermal, or heat lines, are deflected several degrees north or south, 
thus giving places a thousand miles apart the same temperature. Thus places 
in the same latitude of the Saskatchewan river, (latitude ,51° X.) enjoy the 
same annual mean temperature as places in the latitade of Fort Union (latitude 
oT^ X.) a thousand miles south of it. Minnesota, owing to the large lakes east 
and north of it, and the vast arid plains, extending from latitude 35^ to latitude 
47^ west of it, enjoys a mean spring temperature of 4.5°, warmer than Chicago 
2^° south of it, and equal to Southern Michigan, Central New York, and Massa- 
chusetts ; a summer mean of 7U°, equal to Central Xew York, Central 'Wisconsiu, 
Xortheru Peuniylvauia, and Xorthern Ohio, four degrees south of us ; an autum- 
nal mean of 45-, equal to Xew Hampshire, Central ^Tisconsinand Central Mich- 
igan, 2i° south of us ; a winter mean of 16°, similai' to Xorthern Wi.sconsiii. 
Xothern Michigan, Central Vermont and Xew Hamp.shire, on the same line of 
latitude, but nearer the ocean ; while its climate, for the entire year, being a mean 
of 45°, is similar to that of Central Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Central New 
Y'ork, two degrees south of it. We thus have an annual range of temperature 
from the summer of Southern Ohio to the M'inter of Montreal. 

Referring to the above contrasts of climate, Mr. J. Di.sturnell, in a paper read 
before the American Geogi-aphical and Statistical Society of Xew York, says ; 
'•This remaikable fact can only be accounted for on the presumption that >lin- 
nesota receives its favorable climatic infieuce as regards health and growth of 
ve^j'etation, from secret laws of nature, yet to be discovered." 

But the veil which covers these natural laws is easily drawn aside. The luxu- 
riant growth of her vegetation, large yields ef cereals, &c., a^; we have seen, are 
accounted for by her warm, rich soil, forcing summer sun and timely rains, while 
the secret of the salubrity of her climate is foimd in the dryness and consequent 
■purity of our atmosphere, combined with all the advantages of a rugged, delight- 
ful land, charming seasons, lovely and magnificent scenery. 

That the dryness of our air is real, we have many evidences. Meat hung up 
even in moderately wai*m weather, dries up before it spoils. Wagons, barrels, 
^-c, if left idle a short time, drop to pieces. The hygrometer, an instrument for 
determining the moisture in the air, shows our air to be very dry, generally. The 
hyetal, or rain charts, in Blodget's "Climatology of the United States," shows the 
remarkable fact that Minnesota is the dryest State in the Union, and at the same 
time the best watered, on account of its many lakes and streams, and free from 
drouths. Lying, as it does, between a vast ai-id belt on its west sid*' extending 
through twenty-five degrees, and a large humid belt of equal length on its emx 
side, it enjoys a happy medium. The mean annual deposit of moisture ii' Min- 
nesota is 25 inches : Wisconsin 30 to 40 ; Iowa 25 to 42 ; Indiana, Illinois, 
Ohio, Missouri, 42 to 48 ; Kentucky, Tennessee, 5(J ; Cannada, 34 to 36 ; Xew 
England and Xew York, 32 to 45 ; Pennsylvania, 36 ; Arkansas, LouLsiaoa, 
Alabama, and Mississippi, 55 to 63 ; Deiawai-e, Maryland, and Virginia, 40 to 42. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 33 

Errors respecting our Winters. — No region which at present engages the 
public niiud, as a field for settlement, hat been so grossly misrepresented, in 
regard to jjeculiarities of climate, as MiuHesota. Fabulous accounts of its 
arctic temperature, piercing winds, and accompanying snows of enormous depth, 
eral)elisb the columns of the Eastern pre:!is. — JYeill's History of Minnesota. 

We have seen that such impr-ssious are erroneous — that our climate com- 
pares favorably in all respects with that of many other densely populated States. 
Disinterested authorities, that cannot be questioned, have set this matter at rest 
long since, and it only remains to enlighten the public respecting the truth. 
However repugnant to popular prejudice it may seem, our winter fall of snow 
and rain is only one fifth that of New York and Mew England ; the average de- 
posit of moisture in those places for the winter being ten inches — that of Minne- 
sota two inches. — See Blodgefs Climatology, <^c., page 342. 

'I'he great bulk of our water falls during the six growing months, in the form 
of refreshing showers, which cool the air and encourage vegetation, leaving our 
winters dry, crisp, and bracing — much easier to endure than the same amount of 
cold m a damp climate. 

MINNESOTA AS A KESORT FOR INVALIDS. 

Ever since consumption has been known, a change of climate has been re- 
commended by physiciaus as a means of arresting a disease which medicine can- 
not cure. Until within the past few years, it has been customary to send con- 
sumptives to southern latitudes. But medical opinion, influenced no doubt, by 
the poor success attending this plan, has undergone a change, and as usual, gone 
from one extreme to another. Climates of a mild, equable temperature are no 
longer sought ; patients are now sent almo-t invariably to dry, cool, northern 
climates, where the air is subject to considerable perturbation. 

There are many places which are, or have once been celebrated resorts for con- 
sumptive invalids — Maderia, Ventnor, Torquay, Cuba, Florida, Algiers, Upper 
Egypt, &c. Many of these are now known to be positively injurious to this 
class of patients, and have been abandoned. Among them all. there are very 
few, even if harmless, that possesses any advantage. So unsatisfactory has been 
the result of change of climate that many eminent physicians no longer advise 
their patients to try it, beliving that they stand about as good a chance to 
recover at home. The fact that the disease is quite common in all of these places 
of refuge, leads us to the conclusion that the benefit derived from them in such 
cases, if any. is due to the mere change of climaie rather than to any special 
influence arising from the localities themselves,* The supposition that a warm 
climate, or even a cold one possessing an equable temperatve, free from sudden 
changes, is required by consumptives, is evidently an erroneous one. Dr. Law- 
son, the author of one of the ablest works on this disease which has ever been 
published in any language, says : "In order to promote health, the atmosphere 
should be subject to some degree of perturbation, aiid even rapid changes, pro- 
vided those variations are not great or extreme. The steppe of Kirghis, where 
consumption is almost unknown, is remarkable for its rapid changes, and even 
severe winds." Again : "In these early stages of phthisis, patients are already 
beginning to feel the depressing efl'ects of disease, and therefore, require all those 
influences, hygienic and medicinal, which impart toue to the system, and thereby 
invigorate the nutritive functions. It cannot be presumed, however, that a mild 
and equable atmosphere will produce this result ; on the contary, the very mo- 
notony of the atmosphere must lead to depression, and thereby increase the de- 
bility." Of warm climat<!3, he says.- "A very warm, stagnant and moist atmos- 
phere, with but little elevation, would manifestly prove injurious, and there is 
sufficient ground to justify the conclusion that where the disease is far advanced, 
tropical regions are unfavorable." " We have abundant testimony to prove 
that when the disease has become e.stablished, and the system debilitated, but 

* A Practical Treatise ou Phlhiaih PvOmcmalls," oy L. M. Lawson, Ciuclnnati, 1861. 
3 



34 MINNESOTA I 

little good can be derived from warm regions, while, ou the conti-ary, great in- 
jury loill often result." M. Rochard, another medical writer, refers to the fact 
that " tuberculosis marches with greater rapidity in the torrid zone than in 
Europe." 

I have searched tlu'ough a vast amount of medical authority, and digested nu- 
merous tables of statistics. The conclusion I arrive at is, that the only class of 
consumptives benefitted at all by warm, equable regions, are those iu the very 
incipient stages ; that the benefit iu such cases is due more to the change than 
anything else ; and that the same class of patients would be benefitted to a still 
greater degree by a dry, cool, elastic atmosjihere, such as we have iu Minnesota, 
and in parts of New Mexico and California. 

Dr. Chas. A. Leas, United States consul at Madeira, who has resided iu Eus- 
sia, Sweden, Central America, and Madeira, in the service of the government, 
under date of September 10th, 1866, writes : "I have made the subject of cli- 
mate, as accurative agent in consumption, a special study, and in connection with 
my annual report to the State Department at Washington — just now sent ou — 
^ have entered somewhat into detail upon that subject, and have endeavored to 
show, from observation, that consumption, in its earlier stages, is best relieved 
by a visit to, and residence of greater or less extent in, high northern latitudes, 
instead of warm climates, as is the usual custom. I have further suggested Min- 
nesota as 07ie ©y </ie fi-nest climates for that purpose." 

In the report above alluded to, Dr. Leas accomits for the superior advantages 
of a high, dry, cool latitude, in tubercular diseases, on the theory that the lungs, 
in health, are only sufficiently capacious to "admit air enough to purify, through 
its oxygen, the whole of the blood ; in proportion as the air thus breathed is 
contaminated, or mixed with moisture and other impm-ities, so will the amount 
of oxygen admitted into the lungs at anytime, be diminished in quantity, and to 
the same extent, a portion of the vital fluid unoxj'genized," giving rise to a di- 
minished vitality, and thus laying the groundwork "for the development of con- 
sumption, under causes favorable to such a result." The atmosphere iu high 
northern latitudes, is much purer than that of warm countries, ou account of the 
precipitation of its excess of moisture by the cold, "thus giving a larger amount 
of oxygen, which is the great vivifying element iu a given amount of air, and 
thus again enabling the lungs to more thoroughly purify the entire volume of 
blood. And more particularly are the lungs thus aided when a portion of their 
substance is thrown out of action from the actual deposition of tubcr.'uJar niav- 
ter. Besides all that, the frequence of such a large amount of puiv annotii'ijere 
to the circulating fluid, has a decidedly tonic and invigoratiu;,^ oiiect upon that 
element, and through it the whole system. * * * * Aud 

for such an atmosphere as is here indicated, I would suggest to invalids affected 
with pulmonary disease, that they are most likely to find it in Minnesota." 

The fact is worthy of note, that this communication comes from Madeira, an 
island which has been termed " the city of refuge " for consumptives. But the 
testimony of Dr. Mason, and the statistics of Dr. Ronton, prove that it is only 
those in the very incipient stages that have been benefitted there. Uf forty-seven 
confirmed consumptives who landed there, rK)t one lived six mouths ! And yet 
Madeira has the most equable climate in the world, — the temperature 
never varying over eleven degrees the year arousd, — never higher than 74 de- 
grees, nor lower than 63 degrees. With a warm, basaltic soil, protection from 
winds, perennial summer, and tropical luxuriance, it would seem to be the con- 
sumptive's paradise ; but such is not the case. The reason is simply that the air 
is too stagnant, and wants life and perturbation ; and the air is too moist, expe- 
rieac« proving that consumptives require an air sufficiently moist to prevent ir- 
ritation of the air passag-es, but at the same time dry, elastic, pure, aud invigora- 
titg. A little wii.d, therefore, does no harm, while the experience of ages has 
at length established ine fact, beyond peradventure, that those countries most 
favorable to consuiiij'tives, as the steppe of Kirghis, New Mexico, Minnesota 
and California, are remarkable for the dryness aud purity of their air, and are 
subject to occasional changes of temperature, as well as i;\'inds. Another fact 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 35 

worthy of special meutioQ is, that the disease is seldom ever generated in these 

couutrips. 

As comparoj with the other places mentioned, Minnesota takes the palm from .^ 
them iill. While some portions of California, and of the Pacific coaiit general- . 
ly, are favorable retreats, others are less so. The mountains are rather cold and 
harsh — the valleys too stagnant and moist The country about Sacramento and 
the interior of the State is the most favorable ; Itut even hero, according to Dr. 
Hatch, of Sacramento, although the atmosphere is quite dry, it is very subject to 
abrupt changes, and extreme vicissitudes of temj)erature. The same is true of 
that portion of New Mexico and Texas, best adapted to comsumptives — those 
fierce "northers," to which they are subject, often causing a change of tempera- 
ture of 50 or 60 degrees in a few hours, and rendereng winter clothing very ac- 
ceptable. And y^et Dr. Lawson says : "It is extremely probable, if not posi- 
tively certain, that the territory known as New Mexico, embracing Santa Fe, is 
more favorable to consumptives than any point on the American continent, if 
not in the civilized world." Minnesota, at the time this was written, although 
even then a great resort for consumptives, had not become known to the slow 
Pegasiis of the medical muse. Dns. Gregg and Hammond, in their accounts of 
the climate, show it to be very similar to, but inferior to that of Minnesota. It 
is drj-er — rather too diy — increiusing the bronchial irritation and dyspepsia, aris- 
ing from inflammatory action of the mucous membrauce of the stomach, and in- 
flammation of the lungs. The climate is more changeable than ours, and subject 
to severer currents of wind. With these exceptious, the climate is very similar 
to ours. The air is diw and pure, and "persons withered almost to mummies 
are to be occasionally encountered, whose extraordinary age is only to be in- 
ferred from their recollection' of certain notable events, which had taken place in 
times far remote.' 

Yet we have in Minnesota a climate superior as a resort for invalids, to even 
New Mexico. We have never had any epidemic of typhoid or other fevers, 
but owing to its u-armer climate (its yearly mean being 50^ 6) New Mexico is 
somewhat sul)ject to this class of disease. The :yphoid fever raged there as an 
epidemic from 1837 to 1839. Our winds, instead being strong, cold, and con- 
tinued currents, constitute rather a lively agitation, or perturbation of the air ; 
and finally, Minnesota is as accessible by railroad and steamers as Chicago, while 
in New Mexico, Hr. Lawson says that j" the diDQculty of access, as well as the 
want of accommodations, and the charuct^^r of the population, (Indians and 
hunters, or " rangers,'") will for a long period, deter even those who have suffi- 
cient physical ability, from visiting the country." 

The conclusion is thus forcibly impressed upon us, that for invalids, as well as 
for every class of inhabitants required to populate a State, Minnesota is superior 
as a place of settlement to any region in the world." 

Without asserting that all persojis afflicted with pulmonary disease will in- 
variable recover in Minnesota, it may be safely claimed that no climate under 
heaven ofl'ers equal advantages to this class of invalids. While it is undoubted- 
ly true that a laiger percentage of those in the early stages of the disease will 
recover, there can be no doubt but that thuse in the second and third stages often 
get well here. No physician can furetell the result of a trial. The only method 
of deciding the question is by actual residence. 'l"hei-e are those here, whom no 
one would take to be consumptives, who have had but tin< lung for over teii 
yeara. Many come t-oo late, or Cuniinp in time, continue here the over-taxation 
of mind or body, or other unhealthy habit*, which first b-ioke them down. 'I heir 
fi lends blame the climate, if they tail to recover ; but the fact is well e^tabli.she«l, 
that any ca.se within the reaeh of climatic influence, will get well here, il any- 
where. Another fact equally well ettabiished, is that a permanent residence 
here is better, in order to render the cure permanent. Many instances might be 
cittd, where invalids, after spending a year or so liere, and apparently got well, 
have gone iast and died of the disease ; of others, f-xperiencing a return of the 
old sypiptums,. and n,.aking a second recovery alter returning to Minnesota. 
Mauv cases, however, are cured, or greatly benefitted, by a sojourn of a few 



86 MDWESOTA : 

months. Sometimes years are required to effect a complete cure. It is better 
for all desiring to secure the benefits of our climate, to cut loose from all busi- 
ness relations where they reside, take up their abode, and go into business here, 
as a resident has much better chances of recovery than a visitor, who is de- 
prived of ^omeco/ji/bris and associations. Seasons vary, more or less, every- 
where. Some are more favorable than others, but taken one year with another, 
Minnesota, as a sanitarium, will be found all that it is represented to be. ■ ' 

St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 4, 1869, 

Dear Sir: — Your letter of February 3d, 1P69, has been received. An obser- 
vation of nearly eleven years enables me to assure you that in your pamphlet 
you have not over-estimated the wonderful salubrity of this climate. 

In many puhiionary affections the air seems directly curative, and dyspeptics 
will most cerlainly be benefitted by a residence in this State. The dry, bracing 
atmosphere acts as a stimulant to the digestive organs; while the great changes 
in temperature encourage circulation, and thus carry the rich blood to all parts 
of the body. 

Digestion is that process by which supplies are taken into the blood from the 
alimentary canal; and it has been well said that when you have plenty of good 
air, and a good digestion, scrofula and consumption will be unknown. The pure 
air we have ■ and it is now well understood by physicians, that our citizens eat 
and digest the rich, animal food so abundant here, with much less call for high 
seasoning and for stimulating sauce, than they have been used to require else- 
where. 

The effect of the dry, cold air in relieving congestion of the liver is also remarka- 
bly; and hundreds here who came from the South and West broken down by 
malarial i'uvers, can testify to the rapidity with which they have recovered their 
health and strength. Youis respectfully, 

D. W. Hand, M. D. 
G, Hewitt, Esq, 

MESnsnESOTA SOEISTSRY — RESORTS POR TOURtSTS. 

The scenery of Minnesota has attracted the attention of many writers, paint- 
ers and poets, and elicited eulogies in prose and verse, ever since the first white 
man stood on the brink of St. Anthony's Falls, or listened to the gleeful splash- 
ings of Minnehaha. The brilliant purity, dryness and elasticity of the air, bring- 
ing every object out with bold, distinct outlines, lends a pf^culiar chaira to the 
. lovely scenery which everywhere abounds. The nights, particularly, are serene 
and l>eautiful beyond description. Frof Maury, author of the "Physical Geo- 
graphy of the Sea," says : "At the small hours of night, at dewy eve and early 
morn, 1 have looked out with wonder, love and admiration, upon the steel blue 
sky of Minnesota, set with diamonds and sparkling with brilliants of purest ray. 
Herschell has said, that in Europe, the astronomer might consider himself highly 
favored, if by watcliing the skies for one year, he shall, during that period, find, 
all told, one hundred hours suitable for satisfactory observation. A telescope 
mounted here, in this atmosphere, under the skies of Minnesota, would have its 
powers increased many times over what they would be, under canopied less 
brilliant and lovely," and many hundred such hours could be found here within 
that period. 

The State is encircled by lakes and rivers, like the garden of Eden, as pic- 
tured by the imagination. In fact, the numerous streams and lakas of Minneso- 
ta, form one of its characteristic charms, and when it was the habitation of the 
Indians, they showed their appreciation of them by erecting their rude lodges on 
their shady, pebbly shores. The larger lakes, with Oiitlets, are from one to thir- 
ty miles in diameter. The smaller class, however, ait, much more numerous, and 
"generally distinguished, also, for their clear, white, sandy shores, set in gentle, 
grassy slopes, or rimmed with walls of rock, their pebbly beaches sparkling with 
cornelians and agates, while the oak grove or the denser 'nood, which skirts its 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 37 

margin,fcompletes the graceful and picturesque outline." Prof. Maury says : 
"There is in this territory a greater uumb(;r of these lovely sheets of laughing 
water, than in all the country besides. They give variety and beauty to the 
landscape ; tliey soft«n the air, and lend all their thousand charms and attrac- 
tions to make this goodly land a lovely place of residence. We see that, with 
these beautiful sheets of water, nature has done for the upper Mississippi what 
EUett proposes should be done by the government for the Ohio, and what Na- 
poleon 111 is doing for the rivers of France." 

These lakes all abound in fish, superior in flavor and quality to those of the 
sluggish streams of the Western States. Many leaping brooks, fed by springs, 
are pure and cold as mountains streams, and abound in speckled trout. To the 
disciples of Izak Walton, Minnesota is a perfect paradise. To one fond of the 
sport, nothing could be more delightful than to drive out to one of these lovely 
sheets of water, spending the heat of the day on their shady shores, and the 
morning and evening in a small boat, with rod and tackle. In the spring and 
fall these lakes are all covered with ducks and other water fowl, affording rare 
amusement for the sportsman. 

So the tourist who seeks respite from hot pavements, brick walls, and sultry 
cities, relaxation of mind from the cares of business, recreation and recuperation, 
could take up his abode in no more favored spot. Unlike the cramped quarters, 
artificial enjoyments and tiresome excitement of fashionable places of resort, 
like Saratoga or Newport, where the heat, dust, and annoyance of city life, is 
found, without any of its comforts, here the broad fields of primitive nature opens 
wide to view, and invites him to invade her precincts, invigorating body and 
mind 

From the first of May until the first of August, fishing is the principal sport. 
Sometimes wild pigeons, which often breed in our woods, may be shot in great 
numbers in June. After the first of August till frost, fowling commences, and 
the gun and dog take the place of hook and tackle. The first of August ia 
Minnesota is what the first of September is in England, when the game law per- 
mits the shooting of prairie chickens, pheasants gTouse, &c., which abound eve 
rywhere. The larger game, such as deer, elk, and occasionally a bear or buffalo, 
come in with cold weather, and continue till spring. In the fall and spring, 
duck and geese are found plentifully in every little lake. 

Not only to the mere sportsman does Minnesota offer superior attractions, 
but to the tourist generally, and all who would seek rest, natural repose, and 
quiet enjoyment, in a cool, bracing and healthful climate, surrounded by all the 
pleasant associations of nature, "unmarred by the rude hand of art" Railroads 
and stage coaches may be taken, and the remotest parts of the State reached by 
easy or rapid stages, as may be preferred. 

GENERAL INFORMATION. 

ANSWERS TO A FEW OP THE THOUSAND QUESTIONS ASKED ME Wn.L BE FOUND IN THB 
FOLLOWING COMBINATION OP DISJOINTED ITEMS. 

Persons with families should not come here entirely destitute to brave the 
trials and privations of pioneer life. 

Men with means at their command possess, of course, here as elsewhere, great 
advantages. There is, perhaps, no question that money can, on an average, be 
handled to better advantage in a new and thriving Western country, than in the 
old settlements of the East, and Europe, There are opened here a thousand 
avenues into which capital can be profitably turned, and as it promotes the 
growth and development of the State, it adds each day to the security of the in- 
vestment. Those familiar with the commercial, manufacturing and financial 
affairs of Minnesota, assure me that there has not been a time since the flush 
period of 1867, when half the field for safe and profitable investments of capital 
was occupied. Until the last year this want baa been a source of great incon- 
venience and delay to the enterprise of the State ; but now that we have entered 
npou a career of solid progress, and our population rapidly increasing, we fiiul 



38 MINNESOTA : 

capitalists seeking in\estmeots here for their money, and giving new life and vigor 
to many useful enterprises that else would have lingered and languished. 

Our reputation as a healthy country brings many invalids here, who come to 
regain their health, and do not wish to settle down permanently, or engage in 
business until they have tested the climate. They do not want to be idle, or 
desire to make expenses while here, and therefore many seek positions as teach- 
ers, clerks, &c. The consequence is here, as indeed everywhere, these positi6u3 
are always crowded. Many young men in good health come expecting employ- 
ment of this character, and are disappointed. They then wish themselves back 
or wish they had learned a good trade, or understood and inclined to farm life. 
They see around them here,men prosperous and contented on farms ; some mak- 
ing fortunes, and but little exposed to the vicissitudes attending many other pur- 
suits ; while our merchants and professional men do reasonably well, it is an un- 
deniable fact that our farmers are more uniformly successful than any other class. 
Indeed, the portion of farm work now done by machinery, leaves but little that 
is ii'ksome or forbidding in the life of a farmer So different is the business now 
from what it used to be, and so light is the work of a farmer here, as compared 
with the East, that it is not surprising so many are disposed to engage in 
the business. A vocation at once so honorable and independent will each year 
commend itself more and more to sensible men,i and instead of rearing their sons 
to the rmcertainties of the professions and mercantile life, they will devote them 
to work that is blessed, because it makes two blades of grass grow where only 
one grew before — bringing wealth out of the earth, enriching and ennobling 
themselves, and adding to the material wealth of the country. 

TIME TO COME — WAT TO GET HERE' — PRICE OF LAND SEASON FOR OPENING FARMS — 

COST OF SAME PRICE, OF LUMBER — MECHANICS' WAGES FARM HEUP HOTELS 

COST OF LIVING — PRICE OF STOCK, &C., «&C. 

Invalids come at all seasons, and this is, perhaps, right ; yet the months of 
March and April generally furnish more disagreeable weather than the other tea 
months of the year. 

Those who intend to take farms that are opened and in use, should be here in 
time to do fall plowing, which is done in the months of October and November. 
Those who intend to open farms should be here in the spring, so as to have their 
breaking done before the first of August. Ground broken after that time had 
far better not have been touched. Crops are put in from the first of April to 
the 10th of June, and gathered in the months of August and September. 

Government laud can be had with land warrants or money, at from $1.00 to 
$1.25 per acre, and in portions of the State at $2.50. Good wild land can be 
had from second hands at from $1.00 to $15.00 per acre, according to the dis- 
tance from good trading towns, steamboat landings, and railroads. Tne differ- 
ent Land Grant Railroads own immense quantities, located in odd sections, along 
the Line of their roads, and sell at from $2.00 to $8.00 per acre, on long time 
and at reasonable rates of interest. The prices of good farms mu.:!t be estimated 
by the reader from these figures, and the prices of materials and labor herewith 
furnished. It should be understood that free homesteads under the act of Con- 
gress are not found within sight of cities, affording good land, hay, wood and 
water, but must be looked for in the more remote and less thickly settled districts. 

In giving the following estimates, some allowance should be made for the fact 
that prices have not yet entirely receded from those of war times, Ijnt are getting 
down gradually to a reasonable figure. The way to get to Minnesota and 
ithrough the State will be found at the end of this pamphlet on the pages devot- 
ed to " Railroads. Steamboats and Stages." All our railroads are now in the 
hands of active men, who are pushing them forward as rapidly as possible. 
Those preferring to travel by river can have first-class side-wheel steamers, daily, 
firom any point on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to St. Paul, and regu- 
larly to Stillwater and Taylor's Falls. Fare from St. Louis to St Paul fourteen 
to twenty dollars ; from Milwaukee about $16 ; Chicago about $20. 

Having given the prices of land, I will give estimates for putting it to use. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 8^ 

To break prairie land costs from $2.50 to $4.00 per acre ; timber land of course 
much higher. Lumber costd from S 14.00 to ^17.00 per thousand feet for fencing, 
according to the distance from the mills. Posts are made of cedar, tamrack, oak, 
pine and locust. Machinery does a large part of the farm work. We have 
gaug-plows, seed sowers, cultivators, reaj^ers and harvesters, mowers, threshers 
by horse power and steam. Men engage exclusively in these branches — have 
their own machinery, and going from farm to farm, gathering a man's crop and 
putting it in market in a few days. Hired men are procured with but little 
trouble for farm work, and at prices ranging from Sl6 to $30 per month ; hired 
girls at from $7 to $10. The expense of building houses must bg gathered by 
the reader from the price of lumber and mechanics' wages. Lumber for dwell- 
ings costs from $15 to $22 per thousand, and carpenters get from $2.00 to $3.50 
per day ; brick and stone masons from $2.00 to $4.00 per day. Large barns 
are not required — or, at least, are seldom found. When the threshing is done in 
the fall, the straw is thrown upon the timbers constructed with " crotch and 
rider," which affords a wanu and secure shelter for stock in all weather. Farm 
liorses here are worth from ^80 to $180 ; cows from $30 to $45. Abundance 
of good hay grows wild on our marshes and meadows, is considered equal to 
the Kentucky blue grass, and by many superior to clover and timothy. The ex- 
pense of living here can be estimated by the prices charged for board at hotels 
and private boarding houses. The prices range from $1.00 to $3.00 per day at 
hotels, and from $1.00 to $2.00 at private boarding houses. These are the 
prices in the larger cities of the State, but good accommodations are procured 
in thrifty towns, and on the shores of attractive lakes, at more moderate prices. 
The quality of the fm-e and the charges are to some extent under the control of 
the travelling public. Where a man feeds low and charges high, it should be 
your pleasure, as it certainly is you duty, to exercise the " traveller's privilege," 
and speak out ; — let the fact be known as you pass around. It is the only cor- 
rective of this abuse — the only protection against the most disagreeable imposi- 
tion known among men. Th*^ public pay their money and take their choice. If 
they commend what is commendable, and censure the opposite, exercising a 
cheerful discrimination, it will work a cure. The man who can keep a hotel 
knows that an appeal to the stomach and the pocket never failed in a verdict I 
I am the more particular on this point, because of the great interests of the State 
in this matter. The man who first visits a place in bad weather, gets to a mean 
hotel, is badly fed and overcharged, will carry the disagreeable impressions of 
that place to his dying day. 

TLUSH TIMES IX MINNESOTA. 

In contrasting the Minnesota of 1869 with the past, it may not be unprofit- 
able to recur for a moment to the " flush times" of 1857. The wonderful specu- 
lative fevei' that then pervaded the West found its culmination in Min- 
nesota. Young, attractive, with domain enough for an empire, it was not strange 
that thousands came here from the older States, and other countries, in search of 
fame and fortune. In the multitudes who came here in those excited and ex- 
citing times, were many of the best men of the localities from which they came, 
and, on an average, perhaps as good a class of people as ever flocked to a new 
country. 

There however seemed this difference between the tide that poured into Min- 
nesota, and that which drifted to the gold fields of the Pacific coast: While the 
latter, as a rule, expected to get wealth even if they had to dig for it, the former 
seemed to think they could readily obtain it here, and without any special wear 
and tear of umscle. The result was, a population made up miiinly of specula- 
tors ; — nobody to work, nobody to develope the resources of the Territory ; all 
these rich, broad acres — all these immense watt^r-powers — all our great wildemeas 
of lumber, as undisturbed as when the Indians controlled them. Cities and 
towns built, with no productive country or agricultural community around to 
support them, filled with men who came hero, soute with money and some with- 



40 MINNESOTA. 

out, but all engaged in the all-absorbing whirl of wild speculation, dealing in 
corner lots and sections of moonshine, with money at from three to ten per cent 
a month— raising nothing from the earth — living upon the flour and meat, and 
even vegetables, brought up the river oq the boats that carried them here ! 

Such was the condition of Minnesota when overtaken by the memorable finan- 
cial crash of 1857. The reader need not be told that the shrinkage of values 
was — terrific ! 

There are certain dangerous diseases that attack in childhood, from which, if 
the patient recovers, he can safely claim immunity henceforth. Ours was of that 
sort, and so well defined as to not mistake its type. From that time we date our 
jise liiid solid growth, and while to-day we look back with amazement upon those 
times, we recall men of that period to whom we are indebted for much of our 
riresent prosperity. 

MINNESOTA IN 1869. 

The limits of this pamphlet have not aflForded room for a detail of the difficul- 
ties and trials attending the early career of this State — were they recounted 
here in view of our present status, it would seem that we have iudeed, like the 
fabled spectre ship, " sailed the faster in the very teeth of the wind." 

Although the price to which our great staple, wheat, fell about the close of 
our immense harvest, reduced our receipts greatly, yet all things considered, the 
year 1868 was in the aggregate the best Minnesota has ever known. More men 
have taken to the plough ; there have been more acres of land broken ; more grain 
produced ; more minerals developed ; more lumber made ; more houses built ; 
more manufactories started ; more raih-oads constructed ; more boats employed ; 
more freight earned ; more people added to the State, than in any year of its 
history. This has not been done under any sudden influence of flush times and 
wild speculative mania, such as all new western States must have, but the result 
of causes naturally producing these results — and that through a year not generally 
regarded as a prosperous one, or in any respect calculated to give unusual stim- 
ulus to progress. 

We have now entered upon 1869 with a prospect for the future which the 
most favored periods of the past bear no comparison. Minnesotiaus all seem 
full of confidense in the future of this State, and there are abundant reasons for 
the faith that is in them. Every city, town and district shows life and progress 
Our farmers — that strong arm of our destiny — all cheerful and thrifty, with their 
numbers rapidly increasing ; our manufactories multiplying ; our railroads on a 
sound basis, and stretching to every portion of the State ; immigration greatly 
on the increase ; eastern capita] seeking investments in our mi 1st ; our reputa- 
tion established as a Sanitarium for the world ! 

WINTER IN MINNESOTA. 

There is a popular opinion abroad that Minnesota is a delightful country to 
" summer in," but our winters are not so attractive. Now, of those who have 
tried summer and winter here, it is a question which season the majority prefer. 
I spent a large part of my life in Alabama, am familiar with the winters of the 
South, New Orleans, &c., and am free to say that for real enjoyment I would not 
exchange wmter in Minnesota for any I'ountry I ever saw. The season for using 
our rivers for boating ends about the last of November, and it is the custom to 
wind up with the Annual December Steamboat Excursion at St. Pai^l, which 
takes place the first day of December. Last month witnessed the foui th con- 
secutive annual observance of this delightful custom. The river closes soon 
after and is then devoted to other uses. Skating Kinks, Trotting Parks, &c., 
are regularly laid out on the ice, to which old and young, grave and gay, repair 
daily and nightly to sleigh ride, skate, dance, masquerade, &c. It is the season 
of the year, by general consent, given up to enjoyment and every one seems re- 
solved to have his share. Those who have never seen the graceful movements 
of a hundred ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, together on skates have miss- 
ed a sight worth seeing. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 



41 



But the young folks have a broader and more varied field than our lakes and 
rivers afford. On every hill side, from early day nutil late night, are scores and 
hundreds of boys and girls with sleds, cutters, &c., coasting down with a velocity 
that seems frightful. The joyous shouts and laughter of these merry groups aa 
they ring cheerily out in the clear, crisp air tell of true enjoyment. Strangers are 
struck with wonder and delight at the extent to which these enjoyments are carried 
here. I have seen them stoj) for hours to look at the coaster?, while their eyes 
seemed to say, " I wish 1 were a boy again !" A little six year older came in the 
other day from the hill side, with cheeks all aglow, and exclaimed, " Pa, what 
do the poor little boys in the South do where they have no snow ?" Where, in 
all the world, is there so much to make childhood happy as here in Minnesota ? 
We rejoice at this, for is it not our duty to throw as much sunshine into their 
young hearts as possible, that it may linger there to light and cheer mid the 
gloom and trials of after years ! 

We are now at the first of February, 1869, and have not had over six or 
eight inches snow on the ground at one time this winter, yet we have had sleigh- 
ing since the 6th of December and during all this time the weather has been 
clear, calm, bright and pleasant, men every where working out of doors building 
houses, bridges, railroads, «&c., [except brick or stone walls,] and strangers from 
the East and South spending the winter here will testify thai they never before 
experienced such delightful weather as they find in Minnesota ! 



STATE OFFICERS. 




WILLIAM R. MARSH ALU 


Governor. 




THOMAS H. ARMSTRONG, - Lieutenant Governor. 


HEXRY C. 


ROGERS, - 


Secretary 


of State. 


CHARLES M< ILRATH, 


Auditor. 




EMIL MUNCH, - 


Treasurer, 




F. R. E. CORNELL, - 


- 4.ttorney 


■General. 


A COMPLETE LIST OP 


MINNESOTA NEWSPAPERS. 




WBERE PDBLISHED. 


WHERE PUBLISHED. 


Freeborn County SUndard, Albert Lea. 


Journal, 


Owatonna. 


Alexandria Post, 


Alexandria. 


Republican, 


Preston. 


Union, 


Anoka. 


Palladium, 


Pine Island. 


Press, 




Goodhue County Republlcan,SRed Wing. 


Mower County Register 


, Austin. 


Argus, 




Transcript, 


" 


Araerika, 


Rochester. 


Democrat, 


«< 


Post, 


" 


Free Press, 


Brownsville. 


Nordish VoLkblad, 


It 


South West, 


Bine Earth City 


Federal Union, 


" 


Journal, 


Caledonia. 


Southern Minnesotian, 


Ruehford. 


Democrat, 


Chatfield. 


Argus, 


Shakopee . 


Valley Herald, 


Chaska. 


Spy, 


** 


Central Republican, 


Faribault. 


Republican, 


Stillwater. 


Democrat, 


" 


Herald, 


Sauk Centre. 


AUas, 


Fairmount. 


Journal, 


St. Cloud. 


Telegraph, 


Farmington. 


Times, 


" 


Meeker County News, 


Forest City. 


Press, daily, 


St. Paul. 


Herald, 


Garden City. 


Pioneer, dally, 


'* 


Union, 


Hastings. 


Dispatch, daily, 


** 


Gazette, 


" 


StaatR Zeitung, 


" 


Republican, 


Easson. 


Volkfiblatt, 


** 


Herald, 


Lanesboro. 


Minnesota Monthly, 


" 


Leader, 


Lake City. 


N. W. Chronicle, 


'* 


Courier, 


Le Sueur. 


School Visitor, 


" 


Record, 


Mankato. 


Wanderer, 


" 


Union, 




Tribune, 


8t. Peter. 


Express, 


Mantorville. 


Advertiser, 


" 


Minnesota Teacher, 




Herald, 


St. Charles. 


Tribune, daily. 
Independent, 


Minneapolis, 


Sentinel, 
Reporter, 


Sauk Rapids. 
Taylor's FallB. 


Farmers Union, 


II 


Herald, 


Wabaehaw. 


Minnesota Pupil, 
NordishFolkblad, 


It 


News, 

Free Homestead, 


Waseca. 
Winnbago Cety 


Poet, 


NewUlm. 


Republican, daily, 
Folkrenne, 


Winona. 


Enterprise, 


Northfield. 


" 



WINONA & ST. PETER RAILROAD 

1839- OOMF^IV^". ISeS. 



GREAT INDUCEIVIENTS TO SETTLERS. 

dOfllO ACRES of SUPERIOR MWM LAPS FOR SALE 



The Winona & St. Peter Railroad extends from Winona, on the Mississippi 
River, westerly, via St. Peter, across the fertile Valley of the 
Minnesota River, and through the great 

TVheat-FrodMcing District of I!Iiiiiiesota, 

To the western boundary of the State. 

The Railroad, now in operation for a distance of 105 miles from 
Winona, will be extended to the Minnesota River during the present year, 
and with an Eastern connection, which will be in operation early the pres- 
ent season, will form a part of the great through route from the East to the 
Northwest. 

The Lands offered for sale by this Company are within twenty miles 
on each side of the road, a large portion of which being located in the most 
densely populated district of the State, have all the advantages of the older 
States in regard to markets, schools, churches, &c., &c. 

SPECIAL IVOXICE. 

150,000 ACRES OF THESE LANDS,,^ 

In the Counties of Nicollet, Sibley, Redwood, and Cottonwood, ' 

Are no^^v being brouglit iiito Miarket, 

And to which the attention of those seeking homes In the West Is especially 
invited. The district of country in which these Lands are situated, for 
Agricultural purposes or Stock Raising, cannot be excelled in the North- 
west. The Railroad Company will sell a portion of these Lauds, in 

Tracts not exceeding 160 Acres each, at Five Dollars per Acre, 

on the following liberal terms, 'viz : 

Parties purchasing to Pay Interest on Purchase 3Ioney, for first Three 
Years, at tlie rate of Seven per cent, per Annum ; and principal, with 
Interest at same rate, payable in Four Annual Payments thereafter. 

No Lands will be sold to any but ac:ual settlers, for occupancy. 

Any desired information, together with pamphlets relating to the lands, 
climate and production of the State, will be furnished on application being 
made to 

H. W. LAIUBERTON, 

Land Commissioner, Winona & St. Peter R. R» 

WINONA, MINN. 



1800. 1800. 

Lake Superior and Mississippi 

RAILROAD. 



The line of this road is from St. Paul, the head of uavigation on the Missis- 
sippi river, to the head of Lake Superior, a distance of 140 miles. It connects 
at St. Paul, with each of the long lines of railroad traversing the vast and fer- 
tile regions of Minnesota, in all directions, and converging at St. Paul. 

It connects the commerce and business of the Mississippi and Minnesota 
rivers, the California Central Kailroad, and the Northern Pacific Railroad, with 
Lake Superior and the commercial system of the great lalies, and makes the 
outlet or commercial track to Uie lakes, over which must pass the commerce of 
a region of country, second to none on the American continent in capacity for 
production. 

The land grant made by the government of the United States and by the 
State of Minnesota, in aid of the construction of this road, is the largest in 
quantity and most valuable in kind ever made in aid of any railway in either of 
the American States. 

This grant amounts to seventeen square miles or sections [10,880 acres] of 
land for each mile of the road, and in the acrgregate to ONE MILLION SIX 
HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO THOUSAND ACRES OF LAND. 

These lauds are for the most part well timbered with pine, butternut, white oak, 
sugar maple and other valuable timber, and are perhaps better adapted to the 
raising of stock, winter wheat, corn, oats, and most kinds of agricultural pro- 
ductti, than any equal quantity of land in the Northwest. 

These lauds are well watered with running streams and innumerable lakes, 
and within the^limits of the land belonging to the Company, there is an abun- 
dance of water-power for manufacturing purposes. 

A glanfce at the map, and an intelligent comprehension of the course of trade, 
and way to the markets of the Eastern cities and to Europe, for the products of 
this section of the Northwest, will at once satisfy any one who examines the 
question, that the lands of this Company, by reason of the low freights at 
which their products reach market, have a value — independent of that which 
arises from their superior (juality — which can hardly be over-estimated. 

Twenty cents saved in sending a bushel of wheat to market, adds four 

dollars to the yearly product of an acre of wheat land, and what is true of 

this will apply to all other articles of farm produce transported to market, 

and demonstrates that the value of lands depends largely ou the price at 

..which their products can be carried to market. 

THE LANDS OF THIS COMPANY 

ARE NOW OFFERED TO 

IMIVIIGRANTS AND SETTLERS 

At the most favorable rates, as to time and terms of paj-ment 

W. L. BANNING, 
President, Saint Paul, M nnesoia. 



1869. 1869. 

lllWAlill Al mm PAUL RAILWAY, 

EMBRACINa THE PRINCIPAL RAILWAY LINES IN 

WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, AND NORTHERN IOWA, Yiz: 

Milwaukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis, 408 Miles. 

Milwaukee to La Crosse, 196 " 

Milw^ii.kee to Portage City, 95 " 

Milton to Monroe, 42 " 

Watertown to Sun Prairie, ... 26 " 

Horicon to Berlin and Winneconne 58 " 

Total,.... 825 " 

Alex. Mitchell, President. Russell Sage, Vice President. S. S. Merrill, 
General Manager. J. P. Whaling, Auditor. A. Gary, Sec. and Treas. 0. R. 
Britt, Gen. Freight Agent. A. V. H. Carpenter, Gen. Pass. Agent, Milwau- 
kee, Wis. J. W. Prince, Gen. Eastern Agent, No. 2 Astor House. New York. 

TWO THROUGH EXPRESS TRAINS FROM 

MILWAUKEE to MINNEAPOLIS and SAINT PAUL, 

Daily [except' Sundays.] 

MAGNIFICENT PALACE CARS ON DAY TRAINS. 

Splendid new Sleeping Cars on Night Trains, with a full 
nighfs rest via Milwaukee. 

PUBCHASE TICKETS VIA '^MILWAUKEE." 

This is the only All Rail Route to Minneapolis and Saint Paul. 

^S^ Note. — Passengers via Mihvaukee have ample time for meals at Fox^s 
new Depot Hotel at that place — the best Railway Eating-House in the country. 

The Dovsman House at Prairie du Chien afibrds ample facilities for accom- 
modation of travelers, and in the best style. 

Baggage Checked Through only by this Route, and via Milwaukee alone. 

Jt^^ The '^ame advantages apply to passengers going East from Minnesota, 
Northern Iowa and Wisconsin, by this route. 

^^^ Passengers for any point in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern 
Iowa, by purchasing Tickets via Milwaukee secure the following advantages, 
viz : the most direct route, and the only one by which connections are sure : 
No Night changes of cars : Clean Coaches, with ample accommodations, are 
always provided at Milwaukee. Pahiee Sleeping Cars are attached to night 
trains from Milwaukee alone, which insures a full night's rest — facilities not 
attainable by any other route. This is the only route by which baggage ia 
checked through to St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Owatouna. 

Special Notice ! — Passengers destined for any phice in Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, or Northern Iowa, either on or off' the Lines of this Company, who can 
not procure through tickets to destination should purchase their tickets to Mil- 
waukee, as this is the great distributing point for these States, and by so doing 
they avoid the liability of getting out of their direct way. 

^^^ Durir-T the Spring, Summer and Fall, emigrants for St Paul, Minne- 
apolis and imermediate points, via Prairie du Chien, will go through from 
M ILWAUKEE vnthout change of cars. 



TSE FI»I4T ]>IVIl!iIO]!V OF THK 

St. Paul & Pacific R. R. Company. 

1869. LAND DEPARTMENT. 1869. 
FARMS AND HOMES IN MINNESOTA. 

THIS COMPANY NOW OFFERS FOR SALE 

S»00,000 .A.CJRES OF LAIVD, 

Located along their two Railroad Lines, viz., fi-om St. Paul, via St. Anthony, 

Anoka, St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids to Watal) ; and from St. Anthony 

via Minneapolis, Wa5'zetta, Crow River, "VVavcrly and 

Forest City to the western boundary of the State. 



FOR ORAIM ORO^Ti:^€}, 

The lauds in the counties of Hennepin, Wright, Stearns, Benton and 
Meeker, present unsurpassed advantages. Farmers from the Eastern 
States are selecting these lands in preference over all others for the pur- 
pose of raising wheat, the great staple article of Western commerce. 
These counties also contain an abundance of fine hardwood timber, which 
is in great demand for various purposes, and finds a ready market along 
the railroads, and pays not only for the clearing of the land, but for the 
land itself. 

FOR STOCWL RAXNI]VO, 

The counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, are particularly well adapt- 
ed. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, partly prairie, brush and light timber, 
somewhat rolling, with innumerable fresh water lakes, and traversed by 
fine running streams, which are bordered by an abundance of good meadow 
lands, affording an unlimited supply of grass and hay. They are easy ot 
access to the mines on Lake Superior, and the great Pineries of the north- 
ern part of the State, which affords the best and principal markets for 
cattle in the country. In couuection with Stock Raising, it is necessary 
to call attention to the fact that the Dairy Basinrss is as yet in its infancy, 
■which is shown by the high prices of butter and cheese, and the large 
importations of those articles every season from the Eastern States. 

lf% OOIi RAISFAO 

Is also becoming very profitable in Minnesota, and, besides the lands in 
the counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, described above, the prairie 
lands in the counties of Meeker, Kandiyohi and Monongalia, are particu- 
larly sought after for that purpose. 

TERMS OF PAYMENT : 

These lands are offered in tracts of 40, 80, and 160 acres and upwards, 
at prices varying from $5 to flO per acre, (with some few tracts at higher 
figures) rated according to the quality and nearness to the Railroad. 
They are sold for cash or on long credit (ten years if desired) with 7 per 
cent, annual interest, thus enabling persons of small means to acquire, on 
easy terms, a home in a healthy and productive region. Those who have 
already settled along the lines of these railroads have found their lands 
increase in value at the rate of fifty per cent, per animm. 

These lands liave been reserved from sale since 1857; they are in the 
midst of considerable settlements, and convenient to churches, schools 
and established roads and markets. 

For further information apply to 

GEORGE L. BECKER, 

Land Commissioner, St. Paul, Minn. 
HERMANN TROTT, Secretary. 



1S69- THE isea. 



I 



(LATE MINNESOTA VALLEY) 

BAIL ROAD COMPANY. 

From ST. PAUL, via MANKATO, to SIOUX CITY. 
Completed to MANKATO, 86 Miles. 



A Land Grant of 1,200,000 Acres. 



Tlie Company now offer for Sale aiid Seitiement, 

5^nnnn AP^TT^ ^^ their Lands, comprising some of 
OU,UUU ilUliiliO the very finest and most productive 
farming land in the West, at prices from $5 to $10 per acre. 

These lands were odd sections, withdrawn from sale in 1857, the even 
sections being mostly sold to actual settlers. The country is conse- 
quently well settled and improved, with roads, school houses, churches, 
and numerous towns and villages. 

The lands consist of both timber and prairie, with rich soil and finely 
watered, with a climate superior to that of anj^ of the Western States. 

The lands now ofTered are situate in the counties of Dakota, Henne- 
pin, Carver, Scott, Sibley, LeSueur, McLeod, Nicollet, Blue Earth, 
Brown, Watonwan, Martin and Cottonwood. 



GENERAL TERMS OF SALE: 

One-tenth cash, balance in five annual payments, with interest at. 
the rate of seven per cent, per annum, or a discount of ten per cent, 
on nine-tenths of purchase money for cash sales. 

All applications for the purchase of lands, or any information re- 
garding them may be addressed to the 

" LAND DEPARTMENT." 
St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad Company, EU. Paul. 



OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY: 

E. F. Drake, President, I G. A. Hamilton, Secretory y 

J. L. Mekriam, Vice PresH. \ H. THOMPSO^', Treasurer. 

Saint P/>rL, Minnesota. 



Minnesota Stage Company. 

ISOO. «-« 1S09. 

This Compauy run stages in connection with all the Rail- 
roads and over the principal thoroughfares in the State. 

FROM WASECA, 

Terminus of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, to Wilton, 
Winnebago Agency, Maukato, New Ulm, and Redwood Falls. 

FROM MANKATO, 

Terminus of the Saint Paul and Sioux City Railroad, to 
Garden City, Winnebago City, and Blue Earth City. 

FROM SAIIS'T PETER 
To Xew Ulm and Fort Ridgely. 

FROM SAINT CLOUD, 

Terminus of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, to Saint 
Jo, Cold Spring, Sauk Centre, Alexandria, and Fort Aber- 
crombie. Also, to Little Falls, Fort Ripley, and Crow Wing. 

FROM LANESBORO, 

Terminus of the Southern Minnesota Railroad, to Preston, 
SpriiJiT Valley, and Austin. 

FROM WINONA, 

To Fountatii City, Wis., Warn uidee Valley, Gilmauton, and 
Eau Claire. 

FROM WYOMING 

Terminus of c Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, 
to Sunrise, Che v.-atana, and Superior. 

FROM SAINT PAUL 

To Stillwater, Marine and Taylor's Falls. Also, to Hudson, 
Wis. 

BLAKELEY &. CARPENTER, 
St. Paul, 1869. Pi'ojniefors. 



1869. THE 1869. 

North-Western Union Packet Co. 

OR WHITE COLLAK LINE. 



The splendid steamers of this Company will run daring the 
season of navigation, between St. Paul and St. Louis, forming 
a daily line, and making close connections at St. Louis with 
the Mississippi and New Orleans Packet Campanies. 

DuNXiEiTH, with trains of Illinois Central R. R. 
Dubuque, " Dubuque & Sioux City R. R 

Pr. du Chien & ^^ ( Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien & 

McGregor, ( McGregor W. Railways. 

LaCrosse, " Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. 

Winona, " Winona & St. Peter Railway. 

C St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. 
St. Paul, " ) St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad. 

^ St. Paul & Milwaukee Railroad. 

These steamers are unsurpassed by any on the Upper Mis- 
sissippi, for speed, safety ayid comfort. They are elegantly 
fitted for the accommodation of passengers, and are commanded 
by experienced Captains. 

The traveler or tourist on this route sees the many young 
cities and villages that have grown up, as if by magic, along 
the shores of the Mississippi river, from St. Louis to St. Paul, 
in the States of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, & Min- 
nesota. Among which, in Minnesota, are La Crescent, Winona, 
Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Prescott, Hastings, &c. 
He also passes through Lake Pepin, a beautiful sheet of water, 
thirty miles in length, embellished on either side with grand 
and interesting scenery. Indeed, all along the river are found 
spectacles of a very romantic and picturesque character, un- 
equalled in the new world, if indeed in the old. The art- 
embellished shores of the Hudson do not compare with the 
grand, wild, natural scenery, with which nature has festooned 
the shores ol the Father of Waters in Minnesota ; and culti- 
vated travelers from abroad have again and again asserted, that 
there is nothing in the old world to equal it — not even in Italy, 
Switzerland, or the Rhine, — mid the vine-clad hills of old 
France ! 

Passengers can purchase through tickets to all principal 
points East and South, at the ofiices of the Company. West- 
ward bound passengers can also procure tickets over this route, 
at all Eastern Railroad ofiices. 

W. F. DAVIDSON, President. 
St. Paul, Minnesota — Office cor. Third and Jackson Sts. 



THE SAINT PAUL PIONEER. 

THE OLDEST AND BEST NEWSPAPER IN THE STATE, 

A DEMOCRATIC DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY, & WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

As an advertising medium the SAINT PAUL PIONEER is 
unsurpassed by any Paper in the Northwest. 

Daily, one year, SlO.OO Tri-Weekly, one year, *0.00 Weekly, one year, *2.00 
" six mo's, 5.00 " six mos, 3.00 " six mo's, 1. 00 

Address, PIONEER PRINTING CO., St. Paul, Minnesota. 



THE SAINT PAUL PRESS. 

DAILY, TRi-WEEKLY AND WEEKLY. 

THE LEADING REPUBLICAN PAPER OF THE STATE. 

Advertisers are assured tliat its Total Circulation is Three-Fold 

that of any other Paper published in Minnesota. 

Especial attention paid to Statistics of the Development and Growth of the State. 

DAILY, one year, - $10.00 Three months, - $2.50 

TRI-WEEKLY, one year. 6.00 " - 1..50 

The "Weekly Press" is the Largest Paper published west of Chicago— $2,00 per year. 
Address, PRESS PRINTING CO., St, Paul, Minn. 

THE SAINT PAUL OISPATCS 

A. Republican Newspaper. 

PUBLLSHED DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY AND WEEKLY. 

DAILY, per month, 70 cts. ; per quarter, S2.00; per year, $8.00. 
TRIWEEKLY, per year, $1.00. 
WEEKuY, pjr year, $I.-5'i. Clubs of five or over, to one address, per year, $'..00. 

RAMALEY, HALL & CO. 

ALSO 

STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, 

Minnesota street, between Third and Fourtli, St. Paul, Minn. 

THE MINNESOTA MONTHLY: 

A NOBTHWESTERX MAGAZIXE, 

Edited bylD. A. ROBERTSON, of St. Paul. 

Contains not less than thirty-two pages of solid readinar niatt-^r, prinu-J on fine 
book paper, stitched and cut, with neat paper cover, at $2 per annum, 

This publication is devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Economy, 
Mechanical and Manufacturing 1,-idustry, and the Resources, Settlement, Development, 
Hygiene, Climatology, and Statistics of Minnesota and thi;' Northwest, wilh various 
scientitic, local, and general knowledge, for all classes of readers. 

Address, " MINNESOTA MONTHLY," St. Paul, Mipn. 

The Advertising Department is in charge of J. B. Bell, Newspaper Adver- 
tising Agent, St. Paul, Minnesota. 

THE NORTH-WESTERN CHRONICLE. 

THE O^fL'iL' 

REPRESENTATIVE CATHOLIC JOURNAL IN THE NORTHWEST. 

Published with the appioval of Rt. Rt-v. Bishoji of 8t. Paul. 
By JOHN C. DEVEREUX. 
Catholic Block. Third Street. St. Paul. Minx. 

ST. P.VLX PRESS PBLNT. 



1869. TiiE 

SOUTHERN MIN] 



016 096 660 9 
RAIL ROAD COMPANY 




T. B. STODDARD, - - - - President. 

CLARK W, THOMPSON, - General Manager. 

LUKE MILLER, .... Treasurer. 

C. G. WYCKOFF, - - - Secretary. 

M. CONANT, - - - Land Commissioner. 



This road starts at LaCresceut, on Mississippi River, and is 
now completed to Lanesboro, Fillmore County, fifty miles, 
and work on it will be pushed forward vigorously towards its 
terminus, at Great Bend, of the Missouri River. 

Being a Land Grand Road, this Company is endowed with 
a wealth of land not surpassed by any Road in the State. 
Passing, as it does, through the wealthy and populous counties 
of Houston, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, 
and Brown, it traverses the rich valley of Root river, thence 
through a region of unsurpassed fertility, to the western line 
of the State, and Great Bend of the Missouri. 

The Company now ofler for sale 

150,000 ACRES OF LAND 

AT FROM 

i$3 to ^S per ^SLcr-e, 

UPON LONG TIME, AT REASONABLE INTEREST. 

Much of this land is of excellent quality, — some prairie and 
seme well wooded — all of it in the southern part of the State, 
a region traversed by never-failing streams of pure water, — in 
the midst of settled neighborhoods and districts, rapidly filling 
up with an active and intelligent population. The fine water 
power of Root river is being developed, and will add greatl}' 
to the wealth, population, and importance of this portion of 
the State. 



